It was
started in 1975. There are baby and adult elephants in the orphanage. They are
all rescued elephants. Farmers shoot at elephants when they come to their
villages. Sometimes they throw fire brands to scare them away. Some elephants
fall into pits, well and water-holes, when come in search of water in the dry
season. Some injured elephants fall on the way. They cannot get up because of
pain, hunger and thirst. Such elephants are rescued and brought to the
orphanage.
Every
morning the elephants walk in a line to the Maha Oya for bathing, like school
children going for the morning assembly. They love to be in the water for a
long time. They look like rocks when they lie in water. The mahouts scrub,
brush and rub their bodies with coconut husks. The playful little ones spray
and splash water on each other.
The
baby elephants below one year are the infants. Those between 1 year and 5 years
are calves. The male adults are bull and the female adults are cows.An infant drinks 5 liters of milk at a
time. They are bottle fed five times a day.
The adults eat fodder, coconut leaves, jak leaves and kithul trunks. You can
spend hours and hours watching them
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