Nurturing Love: NKAR Adopts Motherless Baby Elephant

On the 4th of Nov 2023, a mother elephant and her little baby had fallen into a man-made agriculture well in Bulathgomuwa-wewa, Ethiliwewa, Wellawaya. As in normal practice, the Department of Wildlife and Conservation (DWC) were called to rescue the pair. On completion of a successful rescue mission, for reasons unknown to humans, the mother elephant refused or didn’t accept the baby back into her custody. That left this little baby elephant orphaned and stranded.

Baby elephants need the care, guidance and nourishment from their mother and the herd until they are around 4-5 years old. This meant that this little newly orphaned baby of 3-4 months had no chance of survival if left alone to fend for herself.

The ”Elephant Transit Home ” (ETH ) was established in 1995 under the preview of the DWC, to take the initial care for such orphaned baby elephant, and once in a stable condition and able to survive on their own (approx 5-6 years), they are rehabilitated back into the wilds. (The ETH is the only orphanage or establishment in Sri Lanka that rehabilitates elephants back into the wild).

This newly orphaned baby elephant was brought into the ETH the very next day (5th Nov 2023), traumatized that she had been abandoned by her own mother and she was weak and exhausted. This little fellow had to be introduced into a totally new environment of the ETH. Elephants are very social animals and love the company of others, however when a new orphan is brought into the ETH, they are left in solidarity, under the vigilant supervision of human care until they are nursed into a stable condition and fit enough to mingle with a new herd.

This little new addition to the ETH, Foster parented by NKAR Travels & Tours (Pvt) Ltd has been named as ”Adira” after the new parent that had a soft corner for her. All elephants at the ETH are fed on formula milk powder (Lactogen ). When it is a new orphan, the carers at the ETH need to try different strengths of the milk formula that would agree with each little orphan. Usually, this is a trial and error for a few weeks, however, with Adira, she seemed to have developed an on-going indigestion. Hence her trial period continued longer than usual. Little Adira proved that she is a survivor, and after much care and supervision from her careers her condition seems to have improved.

From March 2024, little Adira has been slowly introduced into her new extended family, the herd at the ETH. She happily ventures out with the herd from 10:30am to 12:30pm and comes back to her familiar surroundings of her little pen for the rest of the day. This will continue for a while and once she seems comfortable and strong enough, she will gradually increase the time spent with the herd. When she is fully integrated into the herd at the ETH, the human contact will decline, getting her accustomed to a semi wild life .

On the 15th March 2024 , When Mr. Nilmin Nanayakara Chairman/ Managing Director of NKAR Travels & Tours (Pvt) Ltd was shown a choice of 4 baby elephants ready for Fostering, It was love at 1st sight, there was no hesitation that Mr Nananyakara’s eyes and heart were set on little Adira. It seemed like love at 1st sight. Little Adira stole the show, won the heart of her new foster father, and then happily wandered off to join her herd.