Why we dont support Pinnewela Elephant Orphanage

The Pinnewala Sanctuary is just off the main road from Colombo to Kandy, and is one Sri Lanka’s most popular animal attractions.

Although the conditions of the elephants are in general better than at some other establishments in the region, the welfare of the animals is a cause for concern for many experts.

We’ve put this page together to voice opinions on Pinnewela Elephant Orphanage, explain how we’ve dealt with various concerned parties and to raise travellers’ awareness of the animal welfare issues.

discussions over Pinnewela Elephant Orphanage

We started looking into Pinnewela Elephant Orphanage back in October 2007 when our account handler for Asia became aware that the animal welfare standards at the Orphanage may be questionable. We approached our tour operators in Asia for their opinions and started a discussion in house as well as on responsibletravelnews.com.

Many of our tour operators believed that Pinnewela Elephant Orphanage, although not being an ideal environment for the elephants provided a safe haven for the animals. For us at responsibletravel.com, the concern is that Pinnewela is advertised as an orphanage or sanctuary which implies that the animals are rescued and well cared for, when in reality the elephants are bred and displayed as a tourist attraction.

Pinnewela Elephant Orphanage was the subject of a report by the animal welfare charity Born Free. Some of the key points in the report include male elephants chained during ‘musth’ (which is an aggressive period associated with reproductive hormones) causing wounds to the elephant's legs, the elephants are trained with the threat of pain from an ‘ankus’ (the traditional elephant training tool) and the elephants are used as photo props to bring in tourist revenues.

“We take clients to the Orphanage not to encourage the orphanage to deviate from their responsible policies. The more people (clients) we take to the orphanage, more the pressure and visibility on the orphanage on any shortcoming in their responsible policies. I think if tourists did not visit this place, the short-comings would not have been revealed and the pressure wouldn't be there on the administration of the orphanage to get things right. As responsible individuals I think we must get together through our different roles to fix the problem than deserting the place and ignoring the short-comings by not visiting that place. ” Concerned tour operator

You can see the Born Free report on Pinnewela Elephant Orphanage here

The role of ‘sanctuary’ or ‘orphanage’ also conflicts with the stated policy of encouraging breeding at Pinnewala. Born Free does not support the keeping of animals in captivity unless it is for their own benefit. Born Free

The report goes onto explain that the terms 'orphanage' and 'sanctuary' should distinguish a captive animal facility from a zoo when the animals have been rescued from unacceptable captive conditions and are unable to be returned to the wild. The best interests of the animals should be a sanctuaries priority, not profit.

To breed more animals for the purpose of being kept in zoos, or sent to private collections or temples, clearly does not satisfy this requirement. Born Free

our decision

The debate continued through the winter of 2007, through spring 2008 until we came to the decision to remove all trips that included Pinnewala. We asked our tour operators in Asia to change their itineraries and asked them to consider encouraging their travellers to avoid Pinnewala. We suggested that our tour operators visited the Elephant Transit Home instead.

The decision to exclude Pinnewala Elephant Orphange from our site was not an easy one. Whilst we were certain that the animal welfare standards at the orphanage were not acceptable, the question of whether we were acting in a colonial fashion by inflicting our western values on a developing country remained an issue. However our decision was made based on the Born Free report. The final trip was removed in August 2008.

“The Born Free Foundation supports the Elephant Transit Home (ETH) in Udawalawe, in Southern Sri Lanka. This facility takes in baby wild elephants that have been separated from their mothers, and cares for them until they can be returned to the wild. Although Pinnewala may not be able to return its animals to the wild, it could certainly provide them with a more ‘natural’ life, as the protocols at the ETH demonstrate.” Born Free

We recognise the report from Born Free and although the short term alternatives to Pinnewela are far from ideal, our belief is that this does not make it acceptable to visit and therefore condone their current practices. Born Free have identified an alternative destination for travellers who wish to see elephants in captivity - the Transit Camp - which will also benefit from tourism. Justin Francis, responsibletravel.com

further thoughts on elephant welfare

Whilst the issues around elephants are complicated, we can only deal with one issue at a time and address each one on a case by case basis. We are aware that there are other elephant sanctuaries in Asia with poor animal welfare standards and there are ethical questions relating to the ‘breaking’ of elephants used for elephant back rides and safaris. We are continuously working on our animal welfare and wildlife policies, and continue to consult with organisations like Born Free in order to keep you up to date with the serious issues. We believe it is important to keep our travellers informed regarding responsible tourism issues. For more see our advice to travellers about animals in tourism here or report poor animal welfare to Born Free.