Morning Bliss

So every morning I wake up to the sounds of about a hundred different bird calls. It is so beautiful. I don’t think I will need my ipod. The grounds are huge and being the tropics, it is full of coconut trees and other tropical looking plants. And I don’t think I have ever felt more relaxed in my life.

Although it has rained every day, it only lasts a short time and then the sun comes out. Everyone is so friendly and helpful. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much. Even if I have seen someone 5 times in one day, their smile is still as big and bright as if we hadn’t seen each other for a week. It’s really beautiful.

I have been here nearly a week and have settled in to my daily routine. I get up at 6.30am and make my way down to the office at 7am to prepare the medicine for the elephants. Each elephant has a particular dosage of vitamins and minerals that is recommended by the vet. I sort these out and put them into dough balls or bread to later give to the elephants. At 7.30am, my mahout, Jaya calls me and we go to my elephant’s sleeping area. My elephant’s name is Lakshme and she is 42 years old. She was the first elephant here as she was a working elephant for Carminie and her husband. She has been in movies (Tarzan) and she was the first elephant to give birth in captivity in Sri Lanka. I’ll talk more about this later.

So the mahout clears old coconut leaves and bark that she has been feeding on through the night. Now comes the worse part of it. I have to clear the elephant dung. Now I’m sure most of you don’t know, but an elephant poos up to 100kg per day! And the mahouts don’t use shovels to clear the dung…oh no…it’s done by hand! Thank god it doesn’t smell because all they eat is grass and bark. But I just can’t get the thought that I am picking up poo out of my head. I never thought I would spend my mornings praying that Lakshme doesn’t poo in the morning because if she does…get ready for this….it is still warm!

So after clearing the area, I now do the best part which is bath and scrub Lakshme in the river. To ensure the elephants don’t get skin infections, the mahouts get the elephants to lie down in the river and scrub their bodies with a coconut shell. I can’t describe how amazing it is to be that close to these magnificent creatures.

MEF provide the opportunity for tourists to come and scrub them, have an elephant bath (where they spray you while you sit on their back) or ride an elephant. Unlike many other places, MEF restrict the number of people on the elephant, and there are never more than a couple of people here at any time.

Now, being the person that I am, I have been having an internal debate in my head about how I feel about it all. And here are my thoughts:

The mahouts carry these long poles with a hook on the end called an ankus. They also sound quite aggressive when they give the elephant commands. I was a bit distressed, and still get distressed when I see an elephant being reprimanded if they disobey a command. The mahouts don’t use the hooks as such. In fact, it is mainly used to simply touch certain pressure points that indicate a command to the elephant. But sometimes the elephants misbehave (which is actually really cute and I find myself rooting for the elephant) and the mahouts get frustrated. They don’t mistreat them, they just give a little nudge with the ankus. I guess like with any domestic animal, keepers need to assert their dominance. Otherwise, the elephant could harm itself or other people and it would most likely then have to be put down.

With the tourism side of things, these are domestic elephants that cannot be put back into the wild for obvious reasons. And most of them have been rescued from mistreatment or taken from owners that cannot afford to keep them (they eat up to 200kg of grass per day!). So while I’m not entirely condoning the exploitation of animals for the benefit of humans, MEF have a responsible policy for managing this and I feel a bit better about it than previously. It also educates people on the plight of the Asian elephant (in Sri Lanka, there were 10 000 in the wild in 1900 and there are now only about 3000 and it is declining rapidly). MEF also educate farmers and others that have domestic elephants on the appropriate treatment and handling of them in an attempt to minimise mistreatment.

I told Sandith I was very interested in the veterinary care and the treatment of the elephants. MEF manage the Mobile Vet Unit (MVU) which is the only one in the country. They run this with the assistance of WSPA and Dr Dangolla, a lecturer in veterinary science. I am particularly interested in observing and monitoring their behaviour. He has asked me to draft a comprehensive elephant management program which I was very excited about. However, he said this is particularly important because they want to start a captive breeding program. This is my biggest internal debate.

So the dilemma is that it is (rightly) prohibited to take elephants from the wild for domestic purposes. However, there are very few or no captive breeding programs so people are unable to purchase elephants for domestic purposes. There are currently about 150 domestic elephants in Sri Lanka, most of which are over 50 years, so beyond the age being able to breed. MEF have 3 female elephants that are able to breed and 3 male elephants so they are working with the vet from the university to establish the breeding program. My problem is that I really think these animals should be in the wild. It’s difficult because if you take domestic elephants away, it would affect the economy of Sri Lanka. They have been working animals for 4000 years and are sacred to Sinhalese Buddhists and are therefore also used for ceremonial purposes. How do you change 4000 years of history? And is it right to do so?

The other problem is that if you don’t allow domestic elephants, farmers/keepers may continue to take them from the wild which would perpetuate the decline of wild Asian elephants.

So it is for the above reasons that I am going to help the captive breeding program. I am going to set up daily monitoring of the animals and a database to record when they are in heat and when the males are in musth (almost like a male on heat…yes, we know males are always on heat, but this is a particularly tough time for the males as they become extremely agitated and are very dangerous to be around. All the males here are in that state at the moment and can only be approached by their mahout, and even then, it is done with extreme care). The database will also record their medication records and their feeding records. Everything is a little haphazard in the office so I’m going to try and make it a little more organised. I have already rearranged their files on the computer that were all over the place. They can probably delete about three quarters of the files because they are out of date so I’ll try and get them to do this. So hopefully I’ll help them set this up and they will be able to maintain it after I leave. I also want to introduce more work for volunteers in terms of monitoring the elephants. Volunteers will have to monitor the dung and do a vet check every day. They will also have to monitor the elephants when they are unrestrained (i.e. without their mahout), something I can’t wait to do. So hopefully this will be taken on board and I would have contributed something to the foundation and the elephants care.

So back to my routine (sometimes I wish I didn’t have to analyse everything!). After breakfast, I check the elephants’ feet for foot rot (common in domestic elephants where infections can go deep into the leg from holes in the feet). If an elephant has skin infections (like the older elephants) or deep holes, we treat it with peroxide and iodine to stop the infection getting in. Then I give them their medication. They open their mouths for me, and I place the dough ball or bread on their tongue. They won’t lower their trunk until I tap it and say ‘good girl’. I love it because I am so close to their eyes which are so beautiful. They are ridiculously intelligent and I believe this is evident in their eyes which are so expressive. When I watch them eat, they use their feet, trunks and mouths to rip leaves off and you can actually see them solving problems and co-ordinating their movements to make something work (Lakshme was eating the coconut leaves off the branch so she wraps her trunk around 4-5 leaves and rips them off. She had about 6-7 in her trunk and it wouldn’t rip, so she delicately released the additional 2 which then enabled her to continue ripping and eating. Might not sound like much but when you see it, you can see they are actively thinking to make it work).

After the medical check, I normally go and work in the eco farm. This is probably the most relaxing part of my day. I didn’t realise the benefits of farming/gardening. The eco-farmer, Bandare, does not speak English. So we don’t say very much, but that is what I love. So far I have picked cardamom seeds and planted carrots. I think I’m developing a green thumb.

I then have my lunch and work on my project in the afternoon. I will also be starting to teach the local children English (and to everyone in England, I’m sure I’ll be able to cope so no jokes about my English language ability please!). So the afternoons are also taken up with lesson plans which I normally prepare overlooking the elephants bathing in the river….life is tough!

So then I finish at about 5pm and it’s time to rest and have a ‘cold’ shower. Yes, I have not had a hot shower for over a week, and no matter how many times I stand under the shower head, and no matter how hot it has been throughout the day, I can never get used to the cold water. Then I spray my fragrance, eau de rid to keep the mossies at bay, and do some reading or planning for the weekend.

As part of the program, MEF will send me to Habarana, a small village where the elephant-human conflict is rife. They have introduced something as simple as bells to alert villagers when wild elephants are coming. The elephants are starting to learn that the bells signal nearby humans and tend to move away. This is a cheap and effective way to solve the conflict and it means less elephants and people are killed.

MEF will also send me to a national park where I hope to see elephants in the wild. I can’t wait for that.

And I am really excited about going out on the MVU. Sri Lanka has Pera Hera which is a celebration every poya (full moon). The elephants attached to temples are used in these processions. The MVU goes out before each Pera Hera to make sure the elephants are fit to take part. This one might be to mark the occasion that Buddha first stepped on the island but I’ll try and find out more. I’m also hoping to go out on one of the calls to help treat an injured or sick elephant.

I plan on taking the train to Galle this weekend, which is an old Dutch fort. And then spending a night in Unawatuna, which is coastal town, 10 minutes outside Galle. The train is 6 hours so first class it is!

Hope you are all well and enjoying the start to the new year. Thank you to everyone for your kind messages. Remember I love hearing from you. Even if I can't reply, I just want to know what you are all up to. Even though I don't mind my own company, I am a little lonely being the only volunteer so it's good to hear from you.

Take care and love to all!