# Orphaned Elephants Get a Second Chance in Kenya

> The Sheldrick Trust rescues orphaned elephant calves in Kenya, offering hope for the recovery of these remarkable animals. Discover how they help.

- URL: https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/poriatunok-sloneniatsyrit-u-kenii-fondom-sheldrika-daie-nadiiu-na-vidnovlennia-populiatsii-tsykh-dyvovyzhnykh-tvaryn/
- Language: en
- Published: 2024-01-24
- Categories: Culture, Leisure, Tours, Kenya, Animal Rides, Forests

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When Enkesha was found in Kenya's Maasai Mara reserve in 2017, the calf's trunk had been almost severed by a wire snare cinched tightly around it.

She was in a great deal of pain and at risk of losing an organ that is vital for feeding and survival.

It took a three-hour operation and a long stretch of care, but two years on the calf's trunk has healed well. When we meet her at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust elephant orphanage in March 2019, she is with the rest of the small nursery herd (none of them taller than four feet) picking their way through the undergrowth and grabbing leaves with their nimble trunks.

The snare that threatened Enkesha is one of more than 150,000 the trust has removed since it set up its first de-snaring team in 1999, part of its ongoing effort to protect and preserve wildlife and wild habitats across Kenya.

The elephant orphanage in Nairobi National Park, part of the Orphans' Project, is the best known of the trust's nine programs. Founded in 1977, it became the first organization in the world to successfully hand-raise milk-dependent orphaned elephants and return them to the wild.

## How to Raise an Elephant

"We've raised more than 244 elephants through the nursery here," says the trust's CEO, Angela Sheldrick. The orphaned elephants, left without their mothers by poaching, habitat loss, and human-wildlife conflict, are collected by rescue teams and cared for here by keepers.

"When you take on responsibility for a calf, it's a long-term project," she explains, because "their lives mirror our own." A one-year-old elephant is just as vulnerable, and needs just as much care, as a human child.

"Right now we have 93 milk-dependent elephants," she says. "They stay with us for the first three years here in the nursery. As they grow older, they need contact with wild herds, because ultimately every elephant we raise goes on to live a wild life again. We're simply guiding them through the difficult years of milk dependency."

It takes time and patience to teach them to live on their own. As Sheldrick puts it, "Like your own children, they don't leave the nest quickly. They need to build confidence." The process takes up to 10 years, but the nursery's graduates thrive. There are now around 150 rehabilitated orphans, and 30 known calves born to them.

The trust has also hand-raised 17 rhinos. One of the most popular residents is Maxwell, a rhino born blind and later rejected by his mother. He has lived in his "forever home" enclosure since 2007.

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## "Joyful and Fun"

The trust was founded more than 40 years ago by Angela's mother, Daphne Sheldrick, in memory of her late husband, the conservationist David Sheldrick. Daphne passed away last year, and Angela has led the trust since 2001.

"When my mother pioneered this work, she was the first person in the world to raise an elephant calf," says Sheldrick. "It was hard. We didn't have the internet; we didn't have the benefit of anyone else's earlier experience. It's amazing how far we've come."

The trust's head keeper, Edwin Lusichi, has worked at the nursery for 20 years. He says that working with elephants is "important, joyful, and fun, and you just feel relaxed."

"Sadly, what leaves them orphaned is caused by people," he adds.

It is our responsibility to look after our fellow creatures, for the sake of our planet and its future. "Our young people will never see them if we don't protect them now," he says.

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## Never Forget

The Nairobi nursery is open to the public for one hour each day, so visitors can meet the elephants and learn about the threats the species faces.

Orphans can be adopted from $50 a year, and their foster "parents" can enjoy an extra evening visiting hour by prior appointment.

Lusichi leads the evening tour on the day we visit, introducing the 21 elephants, two rhinos, and one giraffe currently on the grounds.

The grown elephants begin a new life in the Tsavo Conservation Area, which takes in Kenya's largest national park, but the bond with those who raised them is never lost.

"They never forget kindness and they really do want to come back," says Sheldrick. "The bulls less so (they travel great distances and become more independent) but the female herds are built on close family units. They never forget those who raised them."

Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Entrance to KWS Workshop Gate in Nairobi National Park, Magadi Road, Nairobi 00503, Kenya