Namal is a male elephant at the Udawalawe Elephant Transit Home (Ath Athuru Sevana). He was brought in as a calf with his left hind leg caught in a wire snare; gangrene set in and the lower leg was amputated. Chief vet Dr Vijitha Perera fitted him with a simple leather prosthetic, later replaced with larger ones as he grew, and he played with the other calves despite his limp. Because of his disability he cannot be released; by 2026 he was 18 years old, his spine badly deformed, and he had become ill-tempered.
Sources
- The Elephant Transit Home at Uda Walawe — Daily FT (Srilal Miththapala), 26 Jul 2014
- The tale of two elephants in captivity — Daily FT (Srilal Miththapala), 28 Feb 2015
- A tale of two elephants — eTurboNews, 2 Mar 2015
- JUNGLE RUMBLE: An invasion threatening Uda Walawe's elephants — Daily Mirror, 12 Aug 2026