Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage Celebrates Its 50th Year-by Amal Jayasinghe Source:Thuppahis Amal Jayasinghe, in The Island, Sunday Edn, with Pics by Ishara Kodikara and this title “Sri Lanka’s first elephant orphanage celebrates 50 years” Sri Lanka’s main elephant orphanage marked its 50th anniversary on Sunday February 16 with a fruit feast for the 68 jumbos at the showpiece centre, reputedly the world’s first care home for destitute pachyderms. The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage lavished pineapples, bananas, melons and cucumbers on its residents to celebrate the anniversary of their home, which is a major tourist attraction. A few officials and tourists invited to the low-key celebration were served milk rice and traditional sweets while four generations of elephants born in captivity frolicked in the nearby Maha Oya river. “The first birth at this orphanage was in 1984, and since then, there have been a total of 76,” said chief curator Sanjaya Ratnayake, as the elephants returned from their daily ...
