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| Wednesday, 30 June 2004 |
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Development's jumbo-sized problems by Florence Wickramage
A large herd of elephants - 62 in all - was seen frolicking in the cool waters of the Ma Oya on a sunny day last week when a group of us journalists visited the Elephant Orphanage at Pinnawela. Set in luscious surroundings on a sprawling coconut estate the Ma Oya glides past by one boundary, while on another were acres and acres of green paddy fields. We stood by the river watching the elephants bathe and being scrubbed hard with coconut husks by their mahouts. There were two very young jumbo babies jealously guarded by their mothers - lest they wander. Suddenly the sky darkened and an unexpected shower of rain drove us to shelter. We wended our way back to the Orphanage. Vast changes had taken place over the last twenty years. The large open building which had housed the elephants and a smaller one where we saw the baby elephants being fed had been replaced with three new open spacious buildings which could accommodate 48 elephants. The Orphanage spreads over an 27 acre coconut estate. We saw around four elephants tethered to large trees and were informed that they were in musth. Further away receiving attention from one of the keepers was `Raja', sent to the Orphanage in 1994 by the Wild Life Department. Raja had been found wounded in the jungles of Galenbindunuwewa in Anuradhapura. R.A. Punchi Banda who had looked after Raja from the day it was brought to the Orphanage said that Raja had been blinded from gun-shot injuries inflicted on it obviously by poachers who were after its tusks. Raja's long tail is just a stub - a further evidence of the incident.
'Nikini' who died a day after our visit was an ailing new mother after giving birth to a still-born baby. We were informed that Nikini had been sickly right throughout and the Orphanage officials had tried their best to prevent a pregnancy. After the birth she had fallen on her side and the officials had propped her up on a wooden structure and had made her comfortable as best as they could. Devoted Veterinary Surgeons had attended on her assisted by Dr. Neville who is a Senior Lecturer at the Veterinary Department of the University of Peradeniya, but 'Nikini' failed to respond to medication. Suraweera Bandara who had served the Elephant Orphanage since 1984 is presently the Senior Security Officer of the orphanage. He had joined the service as a keeper and had assisted in feeding jumbo-babies. Bandara said that currently there are 62 elephants out of which 23 are very young ones and two still in their infancy, the youngest being 7 weeks. In the 1980s there were 42 elephants in the orphanage. At present there are three tuskers including blind Raja. Jumbos spend as much as four hours in the Ma Oya. They are taken for baths twice a day - 10 a.m. to 12 noon and 2.00 p.m. to 4.00 p.m. in the afternoon. Jumbo babies are fed five times a day - 6.00 and 9.30 in the morning 1.30 and 5.00 in the afternoon and at 9.00 p.m. in the night. Adult elephants are fed with around 54 kinds of mixed leafy varieties - out of which they relish coconut, kitul and jak branches. Orphanage At the turn of the century, the large elephant population in the country enjoyed a wide geographic distribution. But clearing of land for tea and coffee in the hill country contributed to the fragmentation of the elephant population. Thereafter irrigation works, restoration of ancient tanks, clearing of jungle land for cultivations, illicit timber logging, accelerated Mahaveli river development with re-settlement areas by the river banks, cultivation of sugar cane and increasing human population resulted in greater land usage. Thus began a drastic reduction in elephant habitats causing depletion in the elephant population. Seeking alternate avenues for the protection and conservation of the species to prevent its extinction became a priority and on this concept the elephant orphanage came into being. The Elephant Orphanage (EO) the world's first of its kind, was officially opened on 16th February 1975 as an institution under the Department of Wildlife Conservation. In 1982 the orphanage was brought under the purview of the Department of Zoological Gardens. The Orphanage started functioning with seven elephants and Vijaya, Bandu, Mathalie, Kumari and Pandura are still living in good health in the Orphanage with their offspring. The Elephant Orphanage gradually emerged as a popular tourist attraction with both local and foreign visitors. The need to upgrade facilities at the orphanage became timely and a comprehensive development plan has been mapped out. Brigadier H A N T Perera, Director General, Zoological Gardens explained the development plans already underway to make the orphanage more comfortable for the elephants as well as for the visitors. The entire development project estimated at Rupees. 120 million would be completed by the year 2005. One section of the sprawling land will be brought under `the jungle-habitat look' planted with huge trees with spreading branches to enable pachyderms to be more comfortable. Large water-holes for the animals to cool themselves in will be included. Leafy varieties and special types of grass such as the `Beru'grass which elephants love to consume would be planted in this area. A reasonable distance away from the `habitat' and at an elevation would be visitors' viewing facilities from where elephants could be watched without disturbing the animals. Hidden from public view would be a separate section of the estate landscaped especially for elephants in `musth'. Also planned are an Elephant Hospital, Visitor Education and Information Centre and Security Posts. To ensure that the animals would be undisturbed, the route taken by the elephants to the river for their regular baths would be redesigned without inconveniencing the business establishments lining the route. The development plans would encompass the administrative structure of the management of the orphanage. A staff cadre of 71 including a Deputy Director and increased veterinary surgeons has been approved. An Elephant Adoption Scheme would be introduced as well as a training programme for elephants to parade in peraheras. The `Captive Breeding' Programme would be afforded additional expertise and guidance. As at earlier times gifting of elephants to institutions and interested parties has been stopped. Entrance fees for visitors to the EO would be restructured. The success of the Elephant Orphanage which is providing housing, care and protection for abandoned elephants is attributed to the near natural habitat conditions of elephants in the wild and the abundance of river water in the Ma Oya flowing by. |
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