The Elephant Transit Home (ETH) at Udawalawe was established in 1995 by the Sri Lanka Department of Wildlife Conservation. Its primary objective is to rehabilitate orphaned elephant calves for ultimate release into the wild. The work carried out at Elephant Transit Home has received worldwide acclaim and support. However, recently it has come to light that a few elephant calves rather than being transited to the wild are being sent to become captive elephant slaves in places such as temples or government institutions like the police and armed forces. One such elephant is Kandula VIII who on 25th April 2021 killed a young soldier and injured others in an attack. The army are now looking to replace Kandula with another calf and to this end have been furnished with images of the calves currently at the Transit Home in order to choose one! This is not the purpose ETH should be serving and this practice must cease immediately. Furthermore healthy ETH calves should not be relocated to Pinnawala to serve a life in captivity or be gifted via Pinnawala. If for any reason such as injury a calf cannot be returned to the wild it should be kept in a semi wild condition and continue to be cared for by the DWC.

ETH should serve the purpose for which it was intended - rehabilitation into the wild and in doing so maintain it's reputation and international support both from tourists looking for ethical solutions and from International NGO's