Bandula- Dehiwala zoo’s pachyderm prince

Bandula, the majestic male elephant of the Dehiwala Zoo is indeed its pride and perhaps the oldest land animal living in Sri Lanka. Bandula is now 60 years of age as per the record and has been in the zoo since its inception. This means, he should have literally seen millions of Sri Lankan citizens that had visited Dehiwala zoo for the last half a century.

Bandula is nearly 10 feet tall and is a majestic animal. This made him the key attraction of the zoo and the leader of its elephant herd. “Bandula is an elephant loved by everybody in the zoo” said its Deputy Director Dammika Malsinghe. Though now old, Bandula is still a healthy animal. It is given a special place in the elephant tent and indeed enriches the looks of the elephant facility in the zoo.

Bandula is also the eldest in the Dehiwala zoo being the 11th senior elephant in captivity in the world according the elephant statistics databases. Bandula was born in 1949 and had been brought to Dehiwala when he was only a 3 year old calf. ‘Lechchami’ a mature she-elephant that lived in the zoo soon became little Bandula’s guardian. She had been a source of motherly love to the Bandula who was still a baby. “Bandula is the most cuddlesome of all zoo elephants” Major Aubrey N. Weinman - the zoo director during 1940s had written in his book My Personal Arc. Major Weinman commended Bandula as a very intelligent and quick learner.

Jamis Peries

ZooLander also met Jamis Peries, one of the oldest persons employed at Dehiwala zoo who is now 89 years. He has served 35 years in the zoo since 1945. “Bandula was only a 4 foot tall baby at the time he was brought to the zoo”, Jamis recalled. He said the baby elephant was brought from Hambantota, but was not sure whether it was captured or found orphaned in the wild. Jamis Peiris said that Bandula was a key attraction even those days and had been used in several films too. He recalls one instance where Major Weinman had taken baby Bandula to nearby Roxy Cinema Hall for a movie promotional campaign. It made news headlines in that era as “an elephant which goes to see a film”.

Bandula was also a star performer at the zoo’s Elephant dance for many years. He performed with other elephants for decades and had stepped aside for other younger elephants as he was aging. But he never made any trouble during the performances and was very obedient. In one instance, a child who came with a foreigner had gone very close to Bandula. The parents panicked fearing that the giant would attack the child, but gentle Bandula had done nothing.

However, being a male elephant, Bandula comes into must once a year. At that time any elephant can get violent, so Bandula is chained at a far corner of the zoo. Last year, he got into must unexpectedly and caused some damage to the tent too. However, he was still obedient to his regular mahouts and calmed down soon. Bandula has to live a lonely life for a few months and the Elephant enclosure without Bandula is indeed like a deserted place, no matter taht there are other elephants present in the facility. That is the image this majestic elephant brings to the zoo and it is indeed a national treasure.

The zoo currently has 7 Asian elephants and 1 African elephant. Devi, Indi, Ganga, Namali, Khema and Madhavi - are all Asian she-elephants and there is a male African elephant named Joe. Each animal is fed twice a day. Their daily routine includes a bath at the pond at the far corner of the zoo. The she-elephants participate in the elephant show that is conducted every day at 4.30 p.m.

Bandula is healthy despite the fact that he is now over 60 years old. He is given a mix of traditional Ayurvedic treatments and western medicinal treatments when in need.

Human elephant conflict

Human Elephant Conflict (HEC) has been the main threat to elephants in Sri Lanka. Annually about 200 elephants are being killed for various reasons and about 50 villagers too die due to elephants. Human populations and encroaching by human habitats has worsened this problem. The records show that the North-Western Wildlife Zone suffers most from the Human Elephant Conflict.

The 2009 data shows that 229 elephants were killed, mostly by gun-shot wounds. It is an accepted fact that it is rare to find an elephant living outside the national parks that doesn’t have any gunshot wounds. Elephants die due to severity of these wounds and due to infections. Some people also use inhumane ways to take revenge on elephants that destroy their crops. Electrocution, poisoning etc. are some of these other methods used to kill elephants.

But when you see Bandula - the majestic elephant, it’s worth the ask, how somebody can be cruel enough to kill such a majestic animal? Before the ageing Bandula, take a vow to support conservation of elephants.

published on 01.Nov.2010 on LakbimaNews.