Photos: Fruit feast as Sri Lanka's first elephant orphanage marks golden jubilee

PINNAWALA, Sri Lanka:Sri Lanka's main elephant orphanage marked its 50th anniversary Sunday with a fruit feast for the 68 jumbos at the showpiece centre, reputedly the world's first care home for destitute pachyderms.

The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage lavished pineapples, bananas, melons and cucumbers on its residents to celebrate the anniversary of their home, which is a major tourist attraction.

A few officials and tourists invited to the low-key celebration were served milk rice and traditional sweets while four generations of elephants born in captivity frolicked in the nearby Maha Oya river.

"The first birth at this orphanage was in 1984, and since then there have been a total of 76," said chief curator Sanjaya Ratnayake, as the elephants returned from their daily river bath.

"This has been a successful breeding programme, and today we have four generations of elephants here, with the youngest 18 months old and the oldest 70 years," he told AFP.