The elephant orphanage in Pinnawala, Sri Lanka:
General information:
The Sri Lankan elephant is an endangered subspecies (Elephas maximus maximus) of the Asian elephant. 70-100 years ago, (about the life span of an elephant) there were about 10. 000 elephants on the island. Today there are only about 3 000 elephants, 50% of these are in captivity. This is an alarming signal for man to try to save these animals. The increasing human population has reduced the available space for the 1500 wild elephants to a minimum.
In order to protect the remaining population the Sri Lankan government has established national parks and fenced game reserves. Unfortunately it has happened that a heard leaves elephant babies behind, with no possibility to survive on their own. The reason for this is usually that the elephant babies are suffering from wounds or some disease. In other cases the elephants are possibly stressed due to elephant-human conflicts.
An elephant orphanage was therefore established in 1975, in order to provide a shelter for those orphaned elephant babies. The orphanage is on a former coconut plantation, close to the ancient capitol, Kandy, famous for its annual religious elephant processions. Their ambition is to provide as natural care as possible. Here the abandoned elephant babies have a new home and a new future. The present herd of 65 elephants is the largest captive herd in the world. They are living in a very active social heard structure and are brought twice a day to the nearby river for bathing and drinking. The smaller babies are bottle fed with milk until they can eat normal food. They are treated for their wounds and parasites and given a shelter where they can be brought up to adult age. In fact most of the elephants are now grown up, and are also breeding in Pinnawela.
The organization "Help-Pinnawela" Lucky Sama":
This organization
was founded 2001, and its main goal is to provide foundings for the elephant
orphanage, for the grown up elephants in Pinnawela and support this endangered
subspecies of the asian elephant. Sri Lanka is unfortunately still an undeveloped
country, why the national founds for the orphanage is limited. There is
a need for veterinary equipment, medicine, articial milk, buildings has
to be renewed, as well as supporting the developing of the knowledge of
the mahouts (elephant keepers).