Udawalawe Ath Athuru Sevana

Tharindu ILLEPERUMA

Ath Athuru Sevana situated in Udawalawa, Sri Lanka is an elephant transit home which was set up in 1995 as a pilot project by the Department of Wildlife Conservation to look after the abandoned baby elephants till they are able to take care of themselves.

They take in jumbo babies found abandoned, stranded or orphaned in the jungles from all parts of the island. Some babies are found sick and wounded. They are kept and treated at the Elephant Transit Home and looked after till they are ultimately fit enough to be released back to the wild.

The elephant transit home was set up in 1995 as a pilot project by the Department of Wildlife Conservation to look after the abandoned baby elephants till they are able to take care of themselves.

The warmth the baby jumbos are denied by their mothers was afforded to them to the fullest at the Ath Athuru Sevana by the Conservators and Veterinary Surgeons who look after their "charges" with love and devotion until the time is ripe for them to be sent back to their natural habitats. The Elephant Transit Home is the only home belonging to the Department of Wildlife Conservation where they take in jumbo babies found abandoned, stranded or orphaned in the jungles from all parts of the island. Some babies are found sick and wounded.

They are kept and treated at the Elephant Transit Home and looked after till they are ultimately fit enough to be released back to the wild.

The Department of Wild Life Conservation (DWLC) introduced a Foster Parent Scheme for baby jumbos to enlist the support and participation of the community in their mission.

The scheme, which saw daylight partly due to the high cost, incurred in the upkeep of the "babies" and secondly to afford an opportunity for nature lovers to participate in the conservation of wildlife, has steadily gained ground.

The DWLC usually spends about Rs. 10,000/- per month to feed one baby elephant.

Watching the contented 'little' ones guzzling warm milk, it was heart-wrenching to think that they were alone - mainly because their mothers were dead or because they were badly injured and left behind by their herd.