Lucky Sama -a project to help foreigners and their friends in Sri lanka ?

[Guest guest]

Sri Lankan elephants are used to collect funds

 

Pinnawela elephants were used by the officers and some foreigners for their

own survival .

Yesterday I came across the web site www.luckysama.de

If somebody is collecting funds for a project they should have an account in

that country.

The money should be managed by the Sri lankan Government.

You can read the news report in Daily Mirror of 09 2002( It is given below)

..It was unsucessful in 2002 .Every body knew that would be unsucessful and

we can`t understand why the present Government is also allowing such a

project.

Elephants are wild animals .This is a story similar to emperor`s new dress.

 

Dr Jayanthi Alahakoon was interdicted in early 80s .When she was interdicted

she tried to prevent other veterinarians from treating the sick animals.She

wanted to show that the zoo animals were dying because she was not there to

treat them.

Unfortunately political influence has helped her and the return of Dr

Alahakoon was a loss for the zoo animals as well as for good officers.

Unfortunately this officer is still in the public service.

 

In March 2001 the authorities began investigating the disappearence of a

crocodile carcass from a freezer and the discovery of an elephant hide in

the room of a zoo veterinarian Dr jayanthi Alahakoon.

Meanwhile on April 6 2001,female black rhino called Momella was found dead.

She had reportedly died of electric shock when she tried to bite a wire.

The zoo Director and the Assistant Director and were transferred .They were

conducting the investigations.

The new director a retired army officer was brought in.

What has happened to Momella`s horn?We don`t believe Momella`s death was an

accident.

 

Dr jayanthi Alahakoon has conducted the postmortem of Momella .Why did the

authorities of the previous Government allow her to do that?

In 1988 Dr Jayanthi Alahakoon had stolen a bengoli tigers head .

Assistant Director of the aquarium Mrs Renuka Bandaranayke has helped Dr

Alahakoon to keep the Benoli tigers head inside a freezer of the aquarium

 

They were not able to keep the stolen head of the tiger because I found out

about that.As the Director was not at the zoo on that day I Informed Museum and she sent a curator of the Museum to collect the head.

Another curatorof the zoo named Vasnatha Nugegoda also supported them .They

refused to hand it over to the Museum.

Next day Museum Director informed the Director and the head which was stored

in a deep freezer of the aquarium was handed over to the museum.

A few days later Museum Director and Zoo Director received threatening

letters by post.It was mentioned that that if i were made permanent in

Pinnawela Orphanage they would kill the ZooDirector and the Museum Director

..They had signed it as if it was from a rebellious armed organisation

DJVP.People who had seen such lettersof DJVP earlier checked that letter and

said that it was a fake using the name of that organisation.

The organisation sent a letter denying that they had sent such a letter.

During that period of terror there were threats on the lives of people who

were involved in different fields.The top news of that time were of persons

missing shot and bodies unberried which were scattered here and there.

For those unpleasant incidences people pointed their fingers at the

Government and the rebellious organisation.

The officers who wanted the bengoli tiger `s head was trying to take revenge

from me by sending that letter.Mr Vasantha Nugegoda the curator has written

the fake letter to the Zoo DirectorMr B.Fernando and Museum DirectorDr Telma

Gunawardena.Then an Unknown gunman has chased Mr Nugegoda when he was going

out of the zoo.

All the officers who awaited their turn of disciplinary inquiries did

everypossible thing to stop the inquiries.Mr Nugegoda was one of them.He

didn`t has the basic necessary qualifications and it was amazing how he has

been promoted to his position.

Mr Vasantha Nugegoda left the country out of fear to Singapore and recently

we learned that he was a co ordinator for reintroduction of singapore fauna

to the forest.

 

Few years later Dr Alahakoon was seen removing another iBengoli tiger`s

skin while doing the postmortem.

These incidents were reported to the authorities.

Unfortunately Dr Alahakoon is still working at the zoo.

She is a threat to animals at the zoo

Previous government has appointed a retired army officer as the Director of

the Zoological gardens.

He has failed to do his duties properly.

The baby elephant Ganga `s eye was struck by her keeper,In early March 2003

a backhoe was used near the elephant shed of the Zoological Gardens .Two

African elephants were scared and started banging their heads and blood was

pouring from their ears.

The present government has given 10 baby elephants to temples.One healthy

elephant named Kapila died without getting proper veterinary treatment.

The Zoo Director failed to provide after care for that elephant

The Government has a duty to protect the animals and humans of a country.

 

 

Giant Sama firm on three legs

 

(Reproduced from Daily Mirror of February 09, 2002)

By Amal Jayasinghe

 

Sri Lanka's celebrated three-legged elephant Sama has

violently rejected an artificial limb fitted by a team of German doctors.

Now authorities want well-meaning vets to keep away and leave the

11-year-old female jumbo in peace.

 

A team led by doctor Annet Kallian attached the limb to Sama's damaged front

right leg last week, but she kicked it off almost immediately. Filmed by a

foreign television crew, the procedure had been an endurance test for Sama,

who appeared restless and unusually agitated.

" They tried an ayurvedic preparation to partly sedate Sama, but it failed, "

the Director of the Department of National Zoological Gardens, H.A. Perera,

told AFP.

The Germans wanted a second go at fixing the limb. Perera said he was

unhappy with this, but had relented after the elephant was hosed to cool her

down. Sama was given a tranquillizer injection and the leg was attached

under sedation. " As she came out of sedation, she banged the leg until the

limb came off. She appeared determined not to rest on the artificial limb.

She must have banged it at least 50 times and pulled it with her trunk. The

limb eventually fell off, " Perera said.

 

 

Left: A volunteer tries to fix an artificial limb on Sama.

 

Top Right: Sama, looks angrily after it kicked off the artificial limb

(left) where a team of German trainers tried to attach it at the elephant

orphanage in Pinnawela. Sama was sedated twice to attach the limb but both

attempts failed.

 

Bottom Right: German doctor, Annet Kallian ® lifts the chained left leg of

Lanka's Sama, as foreign trainer Frederik (2nd,L) and veterenarian, Jayanthi

Alahakoon (3rd,L) supervise the fitting of an artificial limb.

 

 

The disappointed German team left, taking the limb with them, and Perera is

now unsure if it had been wise to allow the experiment. " I was very sad. The

Germans were disappointed, but we don't want to bother the elephant any

more, " Perera said.

 

Sama, who has one leg considerably shorter than the others, has lived at an

elephant orphanage, the world's first, in the central town of Pinnawela

since she was abandoned by her herd in the east of the country in 1991.

 

Authorities had resisted several earlier attempts to give her an artificial

limb arguing that it would need to be upgraded as she grew. But Perera said

they eventually agreed in August last year to a proposal by the Germans to

train Sama to accept an artificial limb. " There is a feeling that as Sama

grows, she will not be able to support her weight on three legs and that is

why we agreed to the German proposal, " Perera said.

 

A foreign trainer spent about three months with Sama, which means " peace " in

Sinhalese, before trying to fit the limb. The team raised money for the

project through a campaign called " Lucky Sama " .

 

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