UPDATE ON THE NEW ORPHAN ELEPHANT CALF - A victim of a poaching snare!

UPDATE ON THE NEW ORPHAN ELEPHANT CALF - A victim of a poaching snare!

The young calf is doing well so far. Her spirit is so strong! This brave elephant has mostly definitely willed herself through a very dark time, and all by herself. Our heart broke when we got a closer look at her wounds. They are severe. It is going to take a lot of love and time and care to rehabilitate her and help her heal not only her wounds but her broken heart too.

Wildlife vet, Dr. Peter Rogers and his team at Provet have visited to treat the little calf and they say the wounds must be at least 1 - 2 months old. She has an extremely deep and wide wound from ear to ear under her head. This had an intense maggot infestation. The top section of her right ear was severed in a vertical direction, which restricts her from moving that ear. Behind that ear, there is a very deep wound where maggots had been eating into too. There is a bad wound below the right ear as well. The snare had also ripped into the flesh above her read - creating a wide wound from side to side.

How she survived is beyond comprehension. The trauma both physically and emotionally on a young calf is unbearable to think of. It is no wonder she does not trust easily and is very defensive toward anyone around her.

The good news is that she is eating well, drinking average, and sleeping standing up mostly (which is mostly preferred with wild elephants as it is less risky). When she feels safer she will no doubt start sleeping lying down.

In this video, you will see the first time Adine met her. Adine was in Pretoria when she got the call about the calf, and was unable to leave until the next morning due to our lockdown curfew, so arrived the next morning, after the calf's first night at HERD.

You can see how scared the calf is. She has caused some damage to the nursery wooden poles but she has been through a lot. Our first thoughts were: how are we going to care for those wounds and clean them every day if not being able to get close to her for a while? We need to gain her trust and bond with her as quickly as possible, remembering that this is a wild elephant. We need to show our utmost patience and love.

Fortunately, being an older calf, she was able to survive with just vegetation, though her body will lack the nutrients of a mother's milk. So for the moment, she is eating quite well and we are giving her lots of different foliage to enjoy. We will gradually introduce milk through a bucket for her with pellets, as we did for Timisa. But one step at a time at the moment.

In this video you will see Adine giving the calf dung from the Jabulani herd - see how she reacts with a rumble and passing dung and urinating. This is both to familiarise her with the scent and to see if she is interested in eating any,

A special thank you to Willem Botha, the gentleman who found and rescued Khanyisa and brought her into our care at HERD with the help of Wildlife vet, Gerhard Scheepers. We did not rescue her, but we will rehabilitate her and reintegrate her with the Jabulani herd when she is fully healed.

We will share a video of Dr. Peter Rogers a little bit later today, as well as more detailed info in a blog in the coming days. Right now we are focusing on the little one.

Thank you for every single comment and message - we are overwhelmed by the love. It is unfortunately impossible for us to reply to everything - but please know how grateful we are to everyone.

Many have asked if you can donate! We would be so grateful for any penny, no matter how small.

You can Donate by going to: https://herd.org.za/product/donate/

Видео UPDATE ON THE NEW ORPHAN ELEPHANT CALF - A victim of a poaching snare! канала HERD Elephant Orphanage South Africa