Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

The name suggests a friendly

caring orphanage

a place where elephants

Find  love and care

The brutal truth is in variance

to living there

Sri Lanka

I question the real welfare

Elephants are very social  animals

family is what they are  all about h

Therefore  we see an orphanage for many elephants

caught up in  habitat loss where there is doubt

and animals are suffering from losing out on care

chained up

stuck on concrete

and many are unaware

the detriment this causes

to foot problems galore

the philosophy in essence

Is one  of feeling sore

Its a zoo in fact   a prison camp

And victims they become

really for entertainment purposes

so really some

are farmed out or are thus observed

there  is nothing wild about them

most are left unnerved

dispirited and doleful

chain scars on their legs

A wretchedness about them

treated as if dregs

many heavy – hearted

woebegone they be

languishing in loneliness

in their own gravity

blubbering and whimpering

They suffer and deplore

bemoaning their lack of care

which the visitors do ignore

in many cases vulgar

their inactivity

creates a vile miasma

their leaden insipid plea

is its soulless and unvarying

just monotony

no way to treat these glorious beasts

to perpetual adversity.

Pinnawala Village

13 km NW of Kegalle

Sabaragamuwe Province

96/Elepants   25 acre coconut plantation

Mahe Oya River    48 mahouts

feed 250 kg fruits and green matter every day