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| Sunday, 15 June 2003 |
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The baby elephant walk About twenty vehicles wend their way one after the other, along a dusty orange track, sending swirls of dust, sand and smoke into the vehicles behind. The heat is scorching and the air inside these smoking vehicles is stuffy. Trickles of sweat drip down blackened faces. An elephant slumbering in a muddy road side pool walks off in a huff away from the train of bumpetty, thumpetty, clattering, four wheel drives and vans. The ohs and ahs it receives go ignored. The majestic holding its head high above the rest. A group of school kids dressed in uniformed t-shirts stand and grin enthusiastically at the rear. The VIPs are, of course, at the top. And what is all this bursting line of traffic for?. The baby elephant walk. The release of baby pachyderms from the Elephant Transit Home (ETH), Udawalawe, to the Udawalawe National Park. The date Sunday June 1st 2003. This being the fourth release of the littlest of the biggest mammals on earth, since the Transit Home's establishment by the Department of Wild Life Conservation on October 6, 1995, the release of these ele babies was held on a grand scale with the honourable top of the environment and natural resources honourably gracing the all important day, displaying his expertise in the field. It was publicity and news story picking at its height. Journalists, cameramen and video cameramen running here and there, jotting down notes, clicking their lenses and on the shoot of everything that was happening. "Udawalawe is the place for news" was a prominent comment in conversation. The 11 stars of the day meanwhile, for whom the VIM of environment attended, seemed a bit shy huddling up together, turning their backs as much as possible to the flashes which came their way. Manel, Namal and Rohana being the heads of the three corps, had radio collars around their necks. As the trucks tumbled along, the little big backsides in them swayed from side to side and on to each other. With the sun burning down everyone's backs, there was a rush to see the pachyderms' take off, as everyone suddenly clambered down their vehicles and hurried to where the elephant group number one truck had stopped (which was at "Ali dutu gala" by the way). After many, no doubt, rehearsing reversals, helped by the numerous number of comments flying from all directions, the truck's rear finally landed on the right spot and The Door opened. Then, just as much as the crowd hurried over to see the baby pachyderms clambering down, there was an even faster stampede to get away, as one of the elephants angrily charged towards them. Next proceeding to "Hulang kapolla", for the release of the second truck load of pachyderms, the top of the environment and natural resources gave his say on the whole matter as cameras and video cameras clicked and shot away while the elephants waited patiently in their trucks, in the back ground. That done, the sun glaring more fiercely than ever, the pachyderms were unloaded. While ele one, two and three, quietly marched off, number four was adamant not to do so, stubbornly refusing to move or let itself be moved an inch towards the little ramp it had to climb down. Pulling back, making huge sounds of protest, waving its trunk about angrily, it was finally a game of tug-o-war, with several men having to pull a rope tied around it and several more pushing it from its mighty behind, to get it down, which it at last did with a loud trumpet. Anyway dropping the final truck load of pachyderms at "Seenugala" everyone proceeded for lunch, which was held at the spacious "Hulang kapolla" bungalow. The Elephant Transit Home of Udawalawe To live free. It is what every human being wants. What every animal needs. This is what the ETH in Udawalawe is about. Looking after orphaned elephants and releasing them to the wild once they are mature enough to take care of themselves. The elephants are a part of the wild and the wild is one of nature's miraculous gifts on earth. The wild is their home and everyone wants a home to return to at the end of the day. Even the pachyderms... Established by the Wild Life Conservation Department, to look after abandoned baby elephants and release them back into the jungles once they are able to look after themselves, the ETH of Udawalawa gets orphaned elephants from places such as Anuradhapura, Vavuniya, Sigiriya, Kantale and Mahawilachchiya. Out of the 35 elephants (11 of which have now been released) 20 have foster parents. The cost of one baby elephant's food and medicine for a month is Rs. 10 000. Jayantha Jayawardena consultant of the Asian Development Bank, says the ETH is a much better system than what is happening at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, where the number of elephants has been increasing and no decision made as to what is to become of them. "Not only does this hinder an elephant's freedom of living free in the wilds, but poses a danger to people, especially when these elephants are taken to the river twice a day, and when in must". On the release of elephants this time around it was observed that the elephants were kept in the sun too long, and that in the first release as there seemed to be no water close by, water should have been given to the elephants in a barrel. The putting of radio collars on the elephants was a good move but it will be important to have regular monitoring of these elephants, to see if they have adapted to the wild and the wild adopts them. However "The releasing of three batches of elephants at the same time", says Jayantha "will make monitoring the elephants movements more difficult, 'cause of the shortage of staff in the department and the various other duties the staff have to carry out". Of the batches released previously Jayantha says that the first and second batches have adapted to the wild well and have been seen regularly with the herds who have adopted them. Of the third batch there is no detailed information of their movements as there has not been regular monitoring, only reports from sightings of these elephants by trackers. The social behaviour of the elephant is highly complex. The herd which consists of females (the males being ejected from the herd once reaching the age of puberty to prevent in breeding) are protective of the young ones and adopt the little stray fellows who come their way. It is their maternal instincts. Thus the young pachyderms released today are taken back into the wilds where they belong. The elephants of Udawalawe, though pretty aggressive earlier have more or less settled down now. With 400-450 elephants, Jayantha says the numbers have been increasing as it is a safe refuge. About 30,000 hectares, the park is a good elephant habitat as it has a variety of food for these browsing mammals. Being a village before being declared a wild life reserve, the other animals in it, such as deer, sambur, bear and leopard are rather shy. The odd disbanded chena and coconut tree, seen here and there, are the remnants of villages that once were. Just like "The village in the jungle", the jungle has finally pulled through. |
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