Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is an orphanage, nursing home and captive facility for wild Asian elephants located in Pinnawala village, 13 km (8.1 mi) northeast of Kegalle town. in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. Pinnawala has the largest herd of elephants in the world. Year2011, there will be 96 elephants, including 43 males and 68 females from 3 generations, living in Pinnawala.

The nursery was established to care for and protect the large numbers of wild elephants found roaming in and around the Sri Lankan forests. Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage was established in 1975 by the Sri Lanka Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC).

On August 31, 2021, a 25-year-old elephant named Surangi gave birth to twin baby elephants at the orphanage.

History

The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage was 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 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 and 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 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 tourist attraction. In 1978, the orphanage was taken over by the Department of National Zoological Gardens Sri Lanka.Year 1982 an elephant breeding program was launched. As of 2012, there were 78 elephants living here.

Visitors to the park can view the care and daily routine of the elephants, such as bottle-feeding of elephant calves, feeding of all other elephants, and bathing in the Ma Oya (River).

Elephant care

Young elephants sometimes fall into pits and ravines in their quest for water during drought periods. 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 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 250 kilograms (550 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 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 2 July 2015, 70 more were born at Pinnawala.

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 Life

Most of the elephants in Pinnawala are healthy and when they reach adulthood, they will be kept in the big house since they are dependent on food. A few disabled elephants are placed in residential care. One tusker, Raja is blind, and one female, named Sama, lost her right front leg due to a mine.

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage was the subject of a 2010 report by the Born Free Foundation which questioned the welfare of the animals at the orphanage.

The quality of care of the elephants donated by Pinnawala has become a public issue. In 2012 the Sri Lanka Environment Trust protested the authorities who continued to 'donate' elephants to people who had 'poor' past records of keeping the animals. There are many instances to demonstrate that the government is dispersing elephants from Pinnawala to the same individuals who are not preserving the animals. Regardless of these allegations, it has been confirmed that monitoring the fact that four of the elephants donated by the order of the president have been returned to the elephant by a court order.

The Purpose of Pinnawala (Pinnawela) Elephant Orphanage

The main purpose of the orphanage is to provide a lifeline for orphaned baby elephants and adult elephants lost in the wild. In many cases the mother of the orphaned baby elephant was killed or there were accidents where the baby elephants fell into pits and were lost in the herd. Sometimes the mother elephant fell into a hole and died leaving the baby elephant lost in the forest. There are times when adult elephants are killed by farmers to protect their land and crops causing baby elephants to become orphans.

The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage was launched to provide the best opportunity to the unfortunate victims of such situations. Captive breeding at Pinnawala (Pinnawela) Elephant Orphanage.

The elephants at the Orphanage are not subject to any kind of harassment, abuse or threats and are supported by a staff of more than 100 including a group of elephants.

The free movement of the herd within the orphanage's fenced yard gives the elephants opportunities to mate. In 1984, Pinnawela's first baby elephant was born. Now, some of these orphans are enjoying the success of seeing their third generation born in the orphanage.

In addition, today, with the help of domestic and foreign elephant experts, the Orphanage has started a scientific-captivity program for Elephants. Since then the orphanage has become one of the most successful programs in raising Asian elephants.Decimation of the Elephant Population by the British Colonialists.

Prior to the invasion of the British in Sri Lanka in 1815, an estimated 30,000 elephants lived on the island. In the 1960s, following nearly a century of game hunting and jolly slaughter by the British colonialists, the elephant population was close to extinction. The tragedy of decimation of the elephant population prompted the Government of Sri Lanka to initiate the Pinnawala (Pinnawela) Elephant Orphanage. The good news is elephants are still not extinct and the number of elephants living in Sri Lankan wilderness exceeds 3,000.

Times to visit the Orphanage The centre opens at 8.30 in the morning and closes at 6pm daily. Bottle feeding is at 9.15am, 1.15pm & 5pm and bathing times at the river is at 10am and 2pm.

The bathing hours are followed up by the feeding hour at the main center of the orphanage. Baby elephants are bottle fed. Selected visitors have a chance of Bottle feeding milk to the baby elephants.

The Success Story of Pinnawala

The success story of Pinnawala has drawn the attention of animal activists and scientists from all over the world. A considerable number of books and research articles on Pinnawala have been published in several languages. The elephants of the Pinnawala herd have been filmed, videoed and photographed thousands of times by professionals, and millions of times by amateurs. The message of conservation from Pinnawala has been passed on to thousands, if not millions of people, after their visit to the orphanage.

Location

Pinnawala (Pinnawela) Elephant Orphanage is located in the village Pinnawala in the district of Kegalle at a distance of 90km from Colombo.

Reaching Pinnawala (Pinnawela) Elephant Orphanage

Pinnawala (Pinnawela) Elephant Orphanage can be reached via the A1 Colombo – Kandy main road. A turn off at the 82 km post at Kegalle leads you to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. The closest railway station is at Rambukkana 2km away from the village of Pinnawala.