Baby tuskers Sindhu and Raju would not be sent back to the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage, but their mothers would be taken to the Dalada Maligawa, Tourism and Recreation Minister Gamini Lokuge told The Island.

This follows instructions to Lokuge by President Mahinda Rajapaksa that the babies have to be with their mothers.

However, Minister Lokuge said that he was awaiting the recommendation of University of Peradeniya Veterinary Department’s Senior Lecturer Asoka Dangolla’s recommendations on what should be done with the baby elephants.

Meanwhile animal rights activists, environmentalists and Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage yesterday warned that taking the mothers to Kandy would lead to problems.

Pinnawela officials said that mothers were semi-wild animals. If they were to be taken out of their surrounding, they had to be either tranquilized or drugged. This would lead to loss of milk, an official said.

On July 25, Sindhu and Raju were forcibly separated from their mothers at Pinnawela without the approval of the Department of Wildlife.