Baby Elephants

 “The primary objective of Udawalawe Elephant Transit Home is to rehabilitate orphaned baby elephants and release them back into the wild.”

Visiting Udawalawee is poignant, and extremely thought provoking. 
This initiative was set up by the Sri Lanka government as a result of the growing 'human/elephant conflict'. 
With increasing populations, humans are encroaching more and more on the elephants' habitat for farmland, cattle grazing, gem mining, timber extraction, and last but not least the disturbing and illegal trafficking of wildlife. 
When villagers chase away wild herds to protect their crops and homes, a calf can get lost in the commotion. Babies get caught in traps, animal snares, abandoned wells or gem mines, and sadly sometimes their mothers are killed. Lone baby elephant calves cannot survive by themselves.

Here orphaned baby elephants are cared for until they are five years old and then returned back to the wild. That is the length of time that baby elephants feed from their mothers. These young elephants form little family groups of four or five, and the team at Udawalawee endeavour to return these little family groups back into the wild together. 

Every elephant receive 40 litres of milk each day - some enjoy drinking from a bucket or using the feeding tube, but the one above looks very happy to be getting his milk from a bottle.

They live in the jungle without boundaries, and come to the feeding station of their own free will, visiting four times a day. They walk in a steady procession within their small 'family' groups one after another. This happens at precisely 9.00am, noon, 3.00pm, and 6.00pm. Just how they know what time it is, I have no idea!!! We were seated and awaiting their arrival by 2.50pm and sure enough at 3.00pm on the dot the first little family group appeared. Woe betide feeding time being delayed or slow; the pathetic cries of baby elephants for their milk is something remarkable to hear. 

As they get near to the milk bar their excitement is tangible, they quicken their pace and then finally run the last few meters jostling for their place at the bar. When they have drunk their milk they then tuck into a pile of freshly cut sugar cane. This they cleverly twirl and twist around using both their feet and trunk in order wind it into a suitable size for eating.

This group have consumed their milk which they do very quickly, and are now grazing on the freshly cut sugar cane. Another little group can be seen beginning to arrive in the distance.

Visitors are kept in a seated, tiered, enclosure to prevent the elephants being disturbed. It is important to limit their exposure to humans because of them being returned to the wild, and it reduces the chances of them succumbing to infections.