Recently I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Sri
Lanka. Being me, I decided that I would
have to check out the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. I suspect that the trip advisor ratings say
more about the tourist than the place they rate. People who are animal activists and people
who are learned about the plight of the Asian Elephant will not like what they
find at Pinnawala. People who are happy
to see lot’s of elephants up close and just want to enjoy their vacation may
enjoy Pinnawala. Look at the trip
advisor rankings as of November 1, 2012:
44 people found it excellent, 51 very good, 25 average, 13 poor and 38
rated it as terrible. I will use
material from this article for my own review. The terrible count will then be 39.
I have taken the liberty to cut and paste from a prominent
Srilankan tourist information website:
“The purpose of Pinnawala
(Pinnawela) Elephant Orphanage
The primary purpose of the orphanage has been to provide a
lifeline to the orphaned baby elephants and adult elephants lost in the
wilderness. In most of the occasions the mother of the orphaned baby elephants
had been killed; and then there have been accidents of baby elephants falling
into pits and losing out to the herd; and there were instances the mother
elephant had fallen into a pit and died leaving the baby elephant lost in the
jungle. There are instances of adult elephants being killed by farmers to
protect their paddy fields and crops resulting in baby elephants orphaned”.
The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage was
launched to provide the best possible opportunity to the sad victims of such
situations. The orphanage is fully geared to provide an environment of happy
and healthy life to the beasts”
Captive breeding at Pinnawala (Pinnawela)
Elephant Orphanage
The elephants at the Pinnawala (Pinnawela) Elephant Orphanage aren’t subjected
to any form of stress or threat at all and supported by a team of employees at
the orphanage numbering over 100 including a group of mahouts.
The free movement of the herd within the 15-acre coconut grove of the orphanage
affords the opportunities to both sexes of elephants to get together and mate.
Maha Oya, the nearby river, where the elephants taken for bathing on daily
basis played a dominant role in this regard. In 1984, the first baby elephant
of Pinnawela was
born. Today some of these orphans enjoy the good fortune of seeing their third
generation too born at the orphanage. ……….”
To the uninformed tourist this all sounds great. But is it?
I think not. I took the time to
do a little research and spoke to a couple of people before and after I visited this place. I find
contradictions especially with the claim that the elephants are free of any
form of stress or threat. Two different people told me they had seen an “elephant crush” -- the small cage used for the breaking of baby elephants -- on
the property. I was given conflicting
direction to it’s location and managed to get myself caught in an area “not
safe”. The staff told me it wasn’t safe, but
the tone of their voices conveyed something I wouldn’t describe as concern for
my safety. I couldn't hep but notice the spears they were holding at port arms. What else were they
hiding? Bottom line is I didn't get any
pictures of the crush, but have every reason to believe the people who told me of it's existence.
One of the same sources told me a story about a pair very
young baby elephants which were allegedly rescued from the jungle after their
parent abandoned them. Humans abandon
their young, elephants do not! I would
have loved to seen these babies, but as I said they were not available to
me.
 |
| For my own safety |
So, what did I see? First there is this old bull who apparently spends his days on a very short chain standing around so the tourists can touch him. (A tip is expected). This old boy is blind; no I didn’t even ask how that happened. His body is scarred and appears to have various sores. This elephant is neither happy nor healthy. May the casual tourist wake up. This is not something you want to see or show your children. The sight of this elephant had a grave effect on me. Why, I don't know. What I do know is that in addition to my usual anger I felt a deep sadness perhaps a clinical depression. Was I picking up his vibrations? Perhaps. I do know that I'm still effected when I see his images.
 |
Old Bull Elephant on Display.
I am so sad for him |
The breeding / rescue program seems to be working. They do have a lot of elephants and many of
them are young. The website mentioned in
the footnote talks about bottle feeding as a main tourist event. To me that means they have a steady supply of
infant elephants. Gentle Reader, you
decide if that’s a good thing or not.
I’ll keep my opinion toned down, other than to say I left there with a
very heavy heart.
 |
| To the unschooled eye it looks pretty good |
Many elephants seem to be seriously underweight. Maybe they are sick, maybe not.
After leaving the orphanage we passed several elephant
camps. I saw one elephant that was in
such bad shape that I asked the driver to stop, walked back and took this
photograph. I cannot understand why
anyone would treat another living creature like this and I cannot understand
why people would pay good money to be close to such terrible abuse! Pathetic!
 |
| Just down the road from the orphanage |
I’ll close with a positive note. I’m told that there is work under way to
establish another, hopefully better, elephant sanctuary in Sri Lanka. The country does have a significant wild
elephant population and apparently there are people in their government who are
looking for better ways to care for their pachyderm population.
Abundant Blessings,
