Photo by Mary Purvis
At the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi, the orphan population has jumped to 21 with the addition of three arrivals within the past month: Kudup was rescued from a well hours before a flash flood would have taken her life, Kilaguni arrived minus his tail after having been mauled by hyenas, and Kalama showed up after being found by a Samburu tribesman near Archers Post.
Despite a rocky start all three infants are beginning to thrive and should be on the fostering list soon.
Two other orphans continue to create concern: Dida’s immune system is shot from antibiotics that cleared up her kidney infection, and Olkeju continues to grieve and is now teething, which brings on an additional host of problems.
Dame Daphne Sheldrick mentioned in a recent update that per Kenya Wildlife Service estimates, poachers are slaughtering ten elephants a week – and those are the ones they know about.
Closer to home, zoo elephants are enmeshed in their own emergency. They suffer in cramped quarters appropriate for a cow not an elephant. Zoos are inadequate for the protection of the elephant species yet the issue continues to be a subject of much debate and urgency. In order to have the quality of life they deserve, elephants need hundreds, if not thousands of acres of space that only a sanctuary such as the one in Tennessee can provide.
The following video is a poignant tale of a zoo elephant’s day.
Woodland Park elephant information
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