Colombo, Sri Lanka, celebrated 50 years of the amazing Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage on Sunday. This special place cares for elephants and is about 90 km from Colombo, in a town called Rambukkana. It opened its doors in 1975, starting with just five baby elephants. Today, it provides a safe home for 69 elephants of different ages.
Chandana Rajapaksa, the director of the Zoological Department, shared that they take care of baby elephants who have lost their families or have been hurt. More than 50 handlers work hard to look after these gentle giants. To celebrate the anniversary, the elephants enjoyed a special feast with lots of fruits. Videos showed officials cutting a giant cake and offering it to the elephants, while visitors were also able to feed them fruits.
“Join us as we celebrate 50 years of love and care for these incredible elephants. It’s been an amazing journey, thanks to our visitors, partners, and elephant lovers worldwide,” said the department in a message. Every day, thousands of visitors come to see the elephants. They enjoy watching the caretakers bottle-feed baby elephants, feed the adults, and guide them to the river for a bath.
Rajapaksa mentioned that the orphanage needs around 5,000 branches of coconut, sugar palm, and jackfruit to feed the elephants. The weaker elephants receive cereals, rice bran, and maize, along with large amounts of pineapples and bananas. The orphanage has seen over 75 baby elephants born there, including twin boys in 2021. The oldest elephant living there is 70 years old!
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