The baby elephant that fell down a drain in Hambantota hit world news as its rescue was captured on video and went viral amongst the world news channels.

The follow-up on this story is that the baby elephant has suffered a fracture in its leg. After treatment at the Uda Walawe Elephant Transit Home, the baby elephant was introduced back to its mother but the mother has refused to feed it. This is not unusual, in that after becoming in close contact with humans, mother elephants can smell the human smell on the baby elephant. This is also why for example when releasing elephants back into the wild, they need to do as a group, as no single elephant raised by humans would be accepted back into a wild herd.

The baby elephant will now be kept at the Elephant Transit Home for three to four years, until it can fend for itself before its release into the wild with others. Meanwhile it is being bottle fed to ensure that it receives the correct nutritional balance of milk supplements at this stage in its life.