When adult elephants are
shot by farmers to protect their fields, or killed by
poachers to get their ivory, there are sometimes baby
elephants that survive the slaughter. The hearts of
most people can't help but go out to such helpless
victims, and the people of Sri Lanka have created at
least two elephant orphanages in response: one at
Pinnawala, the other at Uda Walewe.
photo M. Noonan
photo M. Noonan
The
Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is a place where 60+
elephants of this type have been brought together in a
large, multi-acre facility. It is a place of great
optimism and hope. This is because many of the
Pinnawala elephants have by now grown into adulthood and
are beginning to breed successfully on their own. In
fact, Pinnawala has the most successful breeding record
of any captive facility. This appears to reinforce the
notion that the closer we bring captive conditions to
those in the wild, the more successful the elephants
will be at reproducing.
photo M. Noonan
Recent birth at Pinnewala
In
facilities like this, veterinarians and scientists are
continuing to learn about the biology and the needs of
these wonderful creatures so that we can do an
increasingly better job of managing them both in
captivity and in the wild.
photo M. Noonan
At the Uda Walawe Elephant Orphanage, workers hand-feed
milk to orphaned babies