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Orphan · Elephant Transit Home

Namal

නාමල් நாமல்

Living

Namal
Sumudusoyza007 · CC BY-SA 4.0
A photo of a Sri Lankan Elephant — not this animal

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

  1. The Elephant Transit Home at Uda Walawe — Daily FT (Srilal Miththapala), 26 Jul 2014
  2. The tale of two elephants in captivity — Daily FT (Srilal Miththapala), 28 Feb 2015
  3. A tale of two elephants — eTurboNews, 2 Mar 2015
  4. JUNGLE RUMBLE: An invasion threatening Uda Walawe's elephants — Daily Mirror, 12 Aug 2026