Pinnawela
orphanage is situated in Rambukkana, northwest of the town Kegalla,
halfways between the present capitol Colombo and the ancient royal
residence Kandy in the hills of central Sri Lanka. It was established
1975 by the Sri Lanka Wildlife department. This 24 acres large elephant
orphanage is a also breeding pace for elephants, the first elephant baby
was born in 1984, and it has the greatest herd of elephants in
captivity in the world. Between 1975 and 2012, 67 animals were born
here.
This paragraph is above the "Read More" break.
This paragraph is behind the "Read More" break.
History
The Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage was started in 1975 by the Department
of Wildlife on a twenty five acre coconut property on the Maha Oya river
at Rambukkana. The orphanage was primarily designed to afford care and
protection to the many baby elephants found in the jungle without their
mothers. In most of these cases the mother had either died or been
killed. In some instances the baby had fallen into a pit and in others
the mother had fallen in and died. Initially this orphanage was at the
Wilpattu National Park, then shifted to the tourist complex at Bentota
and then to the Dehiwala Zoo.
From the Dehiwala Zoo it was shifted 1975 to Pinnawela. At the time it
was shifted the orphanage had five baby elephants which formed its
nucleus.It was hoped that this facility would attract both local and
foreign visitors, the income from which would help to maintain the
orphanage.
There are only a few elephant orphanages in the world. Pinnawela has now become one of the bigger orphanages
and is quite well known world wide.
In 1978 the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage was taken over by the National
Zoological Gardens from the Department of Wildlife and a captive
breeding program launched in 1982.
(Photo from the book les animaux sauvages ; l'éléphant) The
Pinnawela herd and chief mahout Samunabanda, in 1981. Not one single
hotel, and only palm trees along the river. The elephants on the picture
are 13; Vijaya, Neela, Hema, Mathalee, Randivi, Mahaweli, Kumari,
Diula, Anuscha, Kadira, Komali, Weera (later Kandula I at the army
camp), and Jadura.
When the zoo took over there were twelve animals five of whom were
babies. In time more baby elephants were added to the original herd of
five. It was observed that though older females could be added it was
not possible to add older males to the herd.
1997 there were 52 animals of which there 10 were babies under 3 years
of age. There were five mahouts for the twelve elephants when the
orphanage was taken over 1978 and later there were twenty mahouts.
Stables close to the road and the office: 1. Milkshed, where
visitors can milk feed elephant babies. 2 (roofed) and 3 ar round
chaining grounds. 4. stable for the blind elephant Raja. 5, 6 and 7 are
stables for mixed groups. 8. for adult dangerous bulls. north of the
trail leading to 6 are chaining points for bulls in musth.
The difference between the elephant orphanage in Pinnawala and Ath Athuru Sevena Transit Home at Uda Walawe is that at the Transit Home these baby elephants once cared for are released to the wilds when they reach a certain age.
- 1975: 5 baby elephants
- 1978: 12 elephants, of those 5 babies.
- 1997: 56 elephants
- 1998: 63 elephants.
- 2000: 70 elephants.
- 2003: 65 elephants.
- 2010: 84 elephants.
Daily actiivities
At Pinnawela an attempt was made to simulate, in a limited way, the conditions in the wild.
Animals are allowed to roam freely during the day and a herd structure allowed to form.
08.00 The babies are fed on milk in the mornings and allowed to range freely on the 12 acres large grassland.
10.00 Each morning and afternoon 14.00 the animals are walked 400 meters to the river Maha Oya for a two-hour bath.
Beteween 16.30 and 1800 in the evening the animals are taken to their stalls and tethered for the night.
They are then given their evening feed which is milk again for the
babies and leaves for the older ones. Plenty of food and water is
available.
The leaves are mainy Cocunut leaves (Cocos nucifera), but also branches from Jackfruit
(Artocarpus integra), leaves, branches and logs of Kitul palm tree (Caryoty urens),
from There is no stress or threat to the animals.
The elephants are stall fed. There is very little food material that
they can gather from the premises of the orphanage except grass. Large
quantities of food are brought in daily. Jackfruit, coconut, kitul,
tamarind and grass form the bulk of the food given to the elephants at
Pinnawela.
Each animal gets approximately 75 kg of green matter a day and in
addition each gets 2kg of a food mixture containing maize, rice bran,
powdered gingelly seed and minerals. They have access to water twice a
day from the river Maha Oya that runs by the Orphanage.
There is one female named Sama which was brought in from the northern
part of the country, where there is an ethnic conflict, with the lower
part off ts front foot blown off by a land mine. This animal is growing
up and is coping with that leg about six inches shorter than the other. |
Post a Comment