Pinnewela was first established by the Sri Lankan Department of Wildlife Conservation in 1975 on a 25-acre (10 ha) preserve for feeding and providing care and sanctuary to orphaned baby elephants that were found in the wild. In 1982 an elephant breeding program was launched.
The aim of the orphanage is to simulate the natural world.The elephants are taken to the river twice daily for a bath, and all the babies under three years of age are still bottle fed by the mahouts and volunteers. Each animal is also given around 76 kilograms (170 lb) of green manure a day and around 2kg (4.4 lb) from a food bag containing rice bran and maize. They get access to water twice a day, from the river.This elephant orphanage is also a breeding place for elephants. More than twenty-three elephants have been born since 1984, and the orphanage has the largest herd of captive elephants in the world. While most of the elephants are healthy, one is blind, and one, named Sama, has lost her front right leg to a land mine.
