…but Piper and Kyla just adopted a baby elephant. Unfortunately, we are unable to take her home because she must stay with her care team and her friends at the Daphnie Sheldrake Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi. But the girls will get monthly updates on Kerrio’s progress, and I’m sure they will share them with you so you can also see Kerrio grow. When she is about 4 or 5, she will go with a few friends to the bush, and keepers will stay with her until she is accepted/adopted into a new herd. She will be wild again!
Honestly, she might be a little wild now. Piper and I got to pet her and Kerrio was enjoying the feel of mud on her trunk. She swung and got Piper fully on the leg, red mud and all. Piper was smitten. The keeper wagged his finger at her, and I can now tell you that finger-wagging doesn’t work on children, cats (ahem), and elephants.
The kids miss you all! Please, leave the mice and baby rabbits alone, okay? Or I might try harder to replace you with something less destructive. Like an elephant.
Luke-warmly,
Your feeder
The Sheldrake Centre is open 10-11am every morning so admiring tourists can watch the baby elephant orphans be bottle-fed and learn of their stories. We were introduced to 21 babies this morning and we (read: Piper) wanted to take them all home.
Two of the babies actually appeared abandoned by their herd and their mother, rather than being separated by conflict or death. At first, keepers were puzzled by an abandoned girl, until they got her to the refuge and realized she had epilepsy, with episodes several times a day. Now she is on medication, and has improved significantly. The other abandoned elephant was this guy, with severely bowed legs. He would not have been able to keep up with the herd, and so may have just been left behind. He may become a lifelong resident at the refuge, like a blind rhino that has been there about 15 years.
What a perfect start to a safari!
Needopedia 