A Helping Hand

An orphan elephant gets a helping hand from a caregiver at Nairobi's David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

The center runs a center for orphanaed baby elephants, usually after their mothers were murdered by poachers in Kenya. The babies are provided with special milk and emotional support to help them recover from the trauma of watching their mothers, and sometimes their entire family, gunned down for their ivory. The DSWT is the most successful orphan-elephant rescue and rehabilitation program in the world and one of the pioneering conservation organizations for wildlife and habitat protection in East Africa.

This photo was taken during my 2016 visit to the orphanage during the noon feeding, which is open to the public. The Nairobi center typicalls has around 35 orphans in residence. Once they are considered ready, they are transferred to one of the Trust's reintegration centers, where the orphans can interact with wild elephants, learning proper elephant behavior. Some of the ex-orphans have returned to the reintegration centers to show off their newborn calves. The Trust has so far raised some 150 calves and released them into their natural habitat.

I am sponsoring three orphans. If you want to get involved by sponsoring a baby elephant, you can do so for only $50/year.

www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org