The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is situated northwest of the town of Kegalle, The orphanage was originally founded in order to afford care and protection to the many orphaned Elephants found in the jungles of Sri Lanka. This was established 1975 by the Sri Lanka Wildlife department. In 1978 the orphanage was taken over by the National Zoological Gardens from the Department of Wildlife. A captive breeding program was launched in 1982.Since the inception of the program over 20 elephants have been bred here. It is a widely acclaimed tourist attraction because of its comfortable setting for elephants. Visitors are allowed to see the way elephants are treated and cared for. This helps guests to reconnect with nature and wildlife and reach out to making sanctuaries like these a better place. The aim of the orphanage is to simulate a natural habitat to these elephants. Each animal is also given around 76 kg of green matter a day and around 2 kg from a food bag containing rice bran and maize. The orphanage which boasts to have the largest herd of captive elephants in the world is very popular and visited daily by many Sri Lankan and foreign tourists. The main attraction is clearly to observe the elephants bathing which is quite a spectacle. However, the elephants are taken to the river twice a day for a bath, and all the babies less than three years of age are still bottle fed by the mahouts and volunteers. The amazing Pinnawala Elephant Sanctuary in Sri Lanka shows its guests the beauty of parenting the gentle creature.
