Visitors tread where elephants roam

By Hiranthi Fernando

Pinnawela, the three-day-old baby elephant was the cyno-sure of all eyes. Named after his place of birth, the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage, he stood beside his mother Mathali, his body still fuzzy with birth hair. The endearing little elephant swayed on his feet and watched the visitors gazing at him. In the stall around him, it was feeding time for the other baby elephants, a special attraction at the orphanage. A host of tourists and locals, including schoolchildren were among them.

In a field farther away, the adult elephants graze until bath time. While the bigger elephants are chained, a majority roam around, play and jostle each other like children. A few mahouts watch on a side.

At 10 a.m. the herd of about 50 elephants moves towards the river, accompanied by about seven or eight mahouts. One mahout goes ahead with a megaphone, shouting a warning for onlookers to clear the road. While they cross the main road, the traffic comes to a brief halt. Then they tread their daily route, a narrow gravel road leading to the river. Visitors follow close behind. Shops selling souvenirs and handicrafts line the road. The herd rushes down the road, eager to get into the water. This routine occurs twice a day.

At the river, the young elephants frolic, while the older ones immerse themselves in the cool water. A mahout bathes an adult elephant. Three mahouts are in the water and three more sit on a rock nearby, while visitors watch the elephants from the banks or the restaurants and snack stalls which have sprung up.

At Pinnawela, which was established in 1975, elephants who have been orphaned, abandoned or separated from their herds are rescued and cared for. Today, there are 63 elephants. A regular visitor to the orphanage and Managing Trustee of the Biodiversity and Elephant Conservation Trust, Jayantha Jayawardene has expressed serious concerns regarding the situation at Pinnawela and has also written to Minister Dharmasiri Senanayake.

"The most serious concern in my view is the danger the elephants at the orphanage constitute to the visitors who flock there," he said. "To start with, there are an inadequate number of mahouts to look after and control the elephants. There should be at least one mahout per elephant. At present there are only 28 mahouts for 63 elephants. This is woefully inadequate, especially when dealing with such a large animal and human lives are at stake."

Another matter of concern, according to Mr. Jayawardene is the journey to the river for their bath. "It is only a matter of time before jostling elephants injure, maim or kill a human, not by design but by pure accident in their rush to get into the water. The road should be closed when the elephants are using it."

The third important aspect, which according to him does not seem to have been given any thought, is that the time is now fast approaching for most of the male elephants to come into must, a periodic condition, where the must gland, located between the eye and the ear, secretes a liquid. During this period, the elephants turn aggressive and attack people. "Tame elephants in must have caused a number of human deaths. They are uncontrollable. Imagine just one elephant going berserk amidst that large crowd of visitors who flock to Pinnawela daily," Mr. Jayawardene said.

At a meeting of the Elephant Owners' Association recently, many warned of the serious situation developing at Pinnawela. "I think it is gross irresponsibility when the authorities don't take effective measures to prevent a situation developing, where visitors are open to serious danger. The Minister has only through his officials, acknowledged my letter to him. Either his officials cannot comprehend the seriousness of the situation, do not know enough of the subject or do not care to keep the Minister informed of the very serious situation," he said.

Among the suggestions made to the Minister, is the necessity for all activities with regard to tame elephants being brought under one government body. According to Mr. Jayawardene, while the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWLF) is responsible for the registration of tame elephants, the veterinary services required for these elephants come under the Department of Animal Production and Health (DAP&H). The running of the Elephant Orphanage falls under the purview of the Director, National Zoological Gardens. These anomalies need to be discussed at the highest levels.

If the elephants are to be looked after properly, trained and kept under control, there should be at least one mahout per elephant. Due to the shortage of mahouts, the elephants are not scrubbed or groomed regularly during their baths. Since their movement is restricted, unlike in the jungle, they are unable to get rid of the ticks and parasites, he said.

With the elephants growing up and more calves being added to the herd, Mr. Jayawardene says there will soon be a time when Pinnawela gets congested. Therefore, a decision needs to be taken about their future.

As it is not feasible to re-introduce these elephants to the jungle, a possible measure would be to sell them to carefully selected individuals or temples. Since there are too many bull-elephants, it would be prudent to move some of them to prevent a problem during must. Whatever their future, it is necessary to give them a training by experienced mahouts. They could be trained for work or to be loaned for temple ceremonies.

Mr. Jayawardene also suggests that Pinnawela could assist elephant owners to breed by providing stud services and accommodation for elephants till mating time. They could use the experience their staff has gained in captive breeding. So far 17 calves have been born at the orphanage including one, third-generation birth.

The elephant stalls should be cleaned regularly and the debris used for compost or burnt, to prevent the recycling of gastrointestinal parasites as well as foot problems in the elephants.

A Visitor Centre has also been suggested by Mr. Jayawardene. Pinnawela can be a centre where orphaned elephants are cared for scientifically, research into various aspects of captive elephants conducted, captive breeding carried out and where visitors can spend a pleasant time while learning about elephants.

National Zoological Gardens Director S. Gunasena said there are 63 elephants, ages varying from three days to 55 years, at Pinnawela. There is no immediate programme to relocate them. However, they have an idea — still in its embryo stage — to develop a property in Kandy to relocate the excess elephants. This would take three to four years to become operational.

When the elephants are taken out of Pinnawela, the road is closed to the public. They will have a public address system to make announcements very soon, he explained.

Mr. Gunasena admitted that there is a shortage of mahouts at the orphanage. However, the Treasury only approves half the cadre they request. Although the orphanage is income generating, the funds go to the state and the salaries are paid by the state. When the elephants go to the river, some mahouts accompany them, while the rest clean the stalls or engage in some such activity. When the elephants are in the river, they are usually calm. Some unfriendly elephants need even more than one mahout at times.

When the elephants are in must, they are tethered separately and kept away from visitors. They are also not taken to the river. Must does not affect teenage bull-elephants very strongly, only those over 20 years. At present there are only about 10 elephants over 15 -16 years, he added.

Colombo Plan b'day is July 1

Beacon of hope

By Feizal Samath

In an era where most international development organizations are plagued by confrontation, discord and disharmony, the low-profile Colombo Plan stands as a beacon of hope for developing countries.

Set up in 1951 by a group of countries mainly seeking to help former British colonies like Sri Lanka and India, Colombo Plan (CP) completes its golden jubilee next year and is looking forward to raising its status in the international arena.

"I agree ... we need to raise our profile and place it in line with other top international organizations. After all we are the pioneers of multilateral cooperation and human resource development," notes Dr Sarat Chandran, Secretary-General of the Colombo-based CP Secretariat.

Dr. Chandran attributes the strength of the 25-country group to a democratic set-up, lean bureaucracy, low-cost administration and fast decision-making process unlike institutions like the United Nations where decisions take much longer in addition to control by an oversized bureaucracy.

"Being small and low profile has also paid in the long run. There is no politics in our organization with every member — big or small- having equal rights. The decision-making process is much faster unlike other bureaucratic international organizations while overheads are kept low," he said, citing the failed Seattle round of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as an example of a heavy bureaucracy, a lot of paper work and politics.

Still the CP — though a pioneer in the development field — hasn't risen to its full potential while other inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations have stolen a march over it.

"Yes I agree, we have been inward looking and seen as only a small part of the process of economic development in the Third World. We need to get out of this rut," said Dr. Chandran, an Indian government economist, who took over the top post at CP in April 1999.

The Colombo Plan came into being during a July 1, 1951 conference in Colombo of finance ministers of seven Commonwealth countries - Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), India, Pakistan, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada to discuss ways of helping countries who were in transition from former colonies to independent states.

It was set up as an inter-governmental organization to help in the economic and social development of countries in South and South East Asia. While many island nations prospered under their newly independent status, the countries lacked infrastructure and trained human resources.

Other CP officials said that though the UN was just established at that time there was no specialized agency handling development cooperation until the Colombo Plan came along. The group, initially with seven members, now has a total of 25 member countries.

Though human capital and human resource development are the buzzwords of the 21st century, the CP focused on these issues as far back as the 1950s, running training programmes in many countries to develop skills for emerging economies.

The CP has trained more than 300,000 doctors, engineers, technicians, economists and government and private sector officials in various programmes over the past 50 years.

Some of the pioneering projects it helped set up were the giant Gal Oya dam in Sri Lanka and the All-Indian Institute of Medical Sciences.

The member countries contribute an equal US $ 14,000 per year for administrative costs of the organization while CP programmes are voluntarily funded by traditional as well as newly emerging donors. The group's main financial backers are the United States, Japan, Australia and South Korea who are also members.

The group's policy-making body is the Colombo Plan Council, which consists of heads of member country diplomatic missions in Colombo. The presidency of the council is rotated in alphabetical order among all member countries. As it nears its 50th anniversary, the CP plans to continue its core projects of public and private sector development, South-South cooperation and the drug advisory programme while taking up social issues as part of its new agenda.

"We would like to focus on women and children, particularly the trafficking of these two groups and also work towards empowering women in the region," Dr. Chandran added.

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