UDAWALAWA ELEPHANT TRANSIT HOME

This is a place where abandoned and stranded jumbo babies are looked after till they are ultimately fit enough to be released back to the wild. This elephant transit home is situated in a land of 200 acres that is bound to Udawalawa reserve and Udawalawa National Park. It is significance in the entire field of wild-life in the world, as it is the foremost and the only elephant transit home of this type established to preserve world elephant affluence.

Department of wildlife Conservation maintains this place and was set up on 6th October, 1995 as the pilot project by the Department of Wildlife Conservation under the considerable attempt of Dr. Nandana Athapaththu, the former deputy director of the Department.

In sake of medical treatments and nourishments in this elephant transit home that was started by taking care of the jumbo baby named “Komali” in 1995, nearly 100 baby elephants have been cured and looked after unto now. The first group among them was released to the forest on 21st March, 1998. Jumbo babies named Gamini, Panduka, Anuradha and Anusha were lucky enough to belong to the first group released. The second group to which baby elephants named Komali, Isuru, Sandamali and Mathali belonged was released on 1st July, 2000.

Jumbo babies named Pandu, Jayendra, Mahesh, Neema, Hema, Madara and Thamali, which belonged to the 3rd group were released on 18th January, 2002. When transit home receives a baby jumbo first of all it is given first-aids and treated if it is wounded. Then the baby elephant is fed milk using bottles.

An elephant baby in this selter is given several meals of milk per day. The smallest baby jumbos are given milk powder for infants and little grownups are given children’s milk powder. In pursue of the fact, 99 milk powder packets each 400 g, and 6 milk packets each 1 kg, are needed to nourish baby elephants per day. Later on after one year or little more, they are trained for extra nourishments by feeding grass and leaves. Then gradually they were accustomed and given a considerable practice to go in search of water and to self-defense. When the time is ripe for enough them to be send back to their natural habitats, they are released to Udawalawa reserve.

There is an opportunity for any nature lover to participate in the conservation of wild elephants that are in the verge of extinction due to various reasons.