Elephant Valley
Menu- WELCOME TO THE ELEPHANT VALLEY!
- FROM ASIA OR AFRICA?
- FROM THE LIFE OF ELEPHANTS
- WATER OVER GOLD
- BIG EATERS
- ELEPHANTS ENDANGERED
- HARD LIFE WITH ELEPHANTS
- HARD LIFE WITH PEOPLE
- PARTNERSHIP OF PEOPLE AND ELEPHANTS
- ELEPHANTS IN CEREMONIES
- ELEPHANTS AT WORK
- ELEPHANTS FROM PINNAWALA
- GANESHA
- ELEPHANTS IN HINDUISM
- THE SOVEREIGN WHITE ELEPHANT
- THE DREAM OF THE WHITE ELEPHANT
ELEPHANTS FROM PINNAWALA
Most elephants kept in Asia are caught in the wild. There are few places where they are few. One such place is the breeding centre at Pinnawala in Sri Lanka, where several of the animals in the Prague herd come from.
Generous space
More than 80 elephants live at Pinnawala with about 50 mahouts who look after them. The main herd can move about freely during the day in an area of several acres where feed pumps and mud baths are available to them. The elephants spend the night in covered stalls.
World success
The importance of the Pinnawala breeding ground extends far beyond the regional level. Around 70 calf elephants have been born there in the past 40 years and the centre is the most successful breeder of Asian elephants in the world. It thus contributes to creating a reserve to combat population decline in the wild and serves as a valuable safeguard against extinction of the species.
Past and present
The centre was founded in 1975 and originally lay within a national park. It served as a sanctuary for orphaned and injured elephants who wouldn’t have survived in the wild. It was later moved to the village of Pinnawala and since the 1980s has focused primarily on breeding.
Public awareness centre
The Pinnawala centre is also involved in raising awareness. It helps to increase the public’s knowledge of the problems faced by elephants. The emotional experience of a close encounter enhances visitors’ feelings about the importance of protecting elephants.
Working with the elephants
Traditional methods are used for working with the elephants in Pinnawala. They all have a name, but with few exceptions they don’t hear them – the mahouts manage them as a whole herd. Instructions are given to them using a henduwa – a hook on a long handle – and verbal commands, which the keepers at Prague Zoo also use.
Regular bathing
Accompanied by the mahouts, the Pinnawala elephants go to bathe twice a day in a river half a kilometre away. Moving the herd through the village and the subsequent frolicking of the young elephants in the water is the main spectacle that attracts tourists and helps to raise money for the centre’s operation.