Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is an orphanage, nursery and captive breeding ground for wild Asian elephants located at Pinnawala village, 13 km (8.1 mi) northwest of Kegalle town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. Pinnawalla is notable for having the largest herd of captive elephants in the world. In 2011, there were 88 elephants, including 37 males and 51 females from 3 generations, living in Pinnawala.
The
orphanage was originally founded in order to afford care and protection to many
of the orphaned unweaned wild elephants found wandering in and near the forests
of Sri Lanka. It was established in 1975 by the Sri Lanka Department of Wildlife
Conservation.
History
The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage
was first established by the Sri Lankan Department of Wildlife Conservation in
1975 for feeding and providing care and sanctuary to orphaned baby elephants
that were found in the wild. The orphanage was first located at the Wilpattu National Park, then shifted to
the tourist complex at Bentota and then to the Dehiwala Zoo.
From the Zoo it was shifted to Pinnawala village on a 25-acre (10 ha) coconut plantation adjacent to the Maha Oya River.
The
primary residential care area is on the east side of Highway B199, Rambukkana
Road. The main site also has some restaurants / refreshment stands, and
management buildings including sleeping sheds and veterinary facilities. The
elephant bathing and viewing area along the Oya River is directly opposite on
the west side of the highway.
At the
time it was finally settled, the orphanage had five baby elephants which formed
its nucleus. The addition of orphans continued till 1995 when the Elephant
Transit Home (ETH) adjoining Udawalawe National Park was created by the DWC. Since then,
orphaned babies have been taken to the ETH and addition to the Pinnawala herd
has been mostly through births occurring there.
It was
planned for the facility to attract local and foreign visitors, the income from
which would help to maintain the orphanage. The Pinnawala Orphanage has since
become a major tourist attraction. In 1978, the orphanage was taken over by the Department of National Zoological
Gardens Sri Lanka. In 1982 an elephant breeding program was
launched. As of 2012, there were 78 elephants living here.
Elephant Care
The orphanage was established to
feed, nurse and house young elephants found abandoned by their mothers. Young
elephants sometimes fall into pits and ravines in their quest for water during
drought period. Other orphans have been displaced from their wild habitat by
development projects or have been found abandoned before weaning, diseased or
wounded.
There are
48 mahouts (handlers) who take care of the
elephants. The female and young elephants in Pinnawala range freely as a herd
during the day in an area of a few acres. They are herded about .5 km
(0.31 mi) twice a day to drink and be bathed in the river. At night, the
females are individually chained in stalls. Adult males are do some light work
such as transporting feed. They are chained and managed individually, Calves
born in Pinnawala are not bottle fed, but a few from ETH are kept at Pinnawala
and bottle fed as
a tourist attraction.
The
elephants are fed in their stalls. There is very little food they can gather
from the premises of the orphanage except some grass. Large quantities of jackfruit, coconut, kitul (sugar
palm), tamarind and grass,
brought in daily, form the bulk of the elephants food. Each
adult animal is given around 76 kilograms (168 lb) of this green matter
per day and around 2 kg (4.4 lb) from a food bag containing rice bran and maize.
Elephant Breeding
This elephant orphanage is also
conducts captive breeding of some elephants in its care. The
natural environment and healthy care and feeding at Pinnawala made the elephant
breeding program a success. The first birth at Pinnawala was in 1984,
Sukumalee, a female was born to Vijaya and Kumar who were aged 21 and 20 years
respectively at the time. The males Vijaya and Neela and females Kumari,
Anusha, Mathalie and Komali have since then parented several baby elephants.
More than twenty-three elephants were born from 1984 to 1991. In 1998 there
were fourteen births at Pinnawala, eight males and six females, with one second
generation birth in early 1998. Since then till early 2012, 84 more were born
at Pinnawalla.
12
elephants were released to temples and private owners since June, 2011. Shama
(female, aged 24), Lasanda (female, aged 18), Mihindu (male, aged 13), Haritha
(male, aged 10 years), Atlas (male, aged seven), Charaka (male, aged five),
Asela (male aged 8), Tharindu (male aged 5), Wasana ( Male aged 11), Arjuna (
male aged 14) and Vishwa (male aged 5) were among those.
Animal Welfare
Most of the elephants at
Pinnawala are healthy and once attaining adulthood, will be sold or donated or
retained for breeding. A few disabled elephants are given residential care.
One tusker, Raja is blind, and one female, named Sama, lost her front right leg
to all and mine.
Pinnawala
Elephant Orphanage is was the subject of a 2010 report by the Born Free
Foundation which calls into question the animal welfare at the orphanage.
Quality
of care of elephants who are donated or sold away from Pinnawala has been a big
public issue. In 2012 The Sri Lanka Environment Trust spoke out against
authorities who continue to 'donate' tamed elephants to people who had 'poor'
past records of taking care of animals. "There are enough cases to show
that the authorities are releasing elephants from Pinnawala to the same group
of people who don't take care of the animals." Though officials boast that
the animals are under close surveillance, they don't do any monitoring once an
elephant is released to a private owner
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