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Photos: Baby elephants find a new life, and love at Kenyan orphanage

Each calf at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust elephant orphanage in Nairobi has a tragic story: orphaned by poachers, drought, or in conflict with humans encroaching ever further into the few wild places left. Elephants stay for about three years at the orphanage, where they are fed every three hours and sleep in individual wooden pens, each with a keeper. In 42 years, the trust has rehabilitated more than 230 orphan elephants.

Updated on: Mar 22, 2019 5:22 PM IST

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Orphan elephants play at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) elephant orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. Luggard, a lively three-year-old, limps behind the rest of his ragtag troupe of orphan elephants, halting to graze or rub against a tree. When he was just five months old, Luggard was found struggling to keep up with his herd in Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park. He had been shot twice. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2019 5:22 PM

Orphan elephants play at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) elephant orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. Luggard, a lively three-year-old, limps behind the rest of his ragtag troupe of orphan elephants, halting to graze or rub against a tree. When he was just five months old, Luggard was found struggling to keep up with his herd in Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park. He had been shot twice. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

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A keeper carries bottles of milk on a wheelbarrow before feeding orphan elephants. The calf was discovered “too late for successful surgery,” said Edwin Lusichi, 42, head keeper at the DSWT, Luggard’s new home. With the rest of the gang of 20 elephant babies in this unusual orphanage, Luggard comes charging with great enthusiasm, though hobbling heavily on his deformed leg, out of the bush for a 9:00 am feeding. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2019 5:22 PM

A keeper carries bottles of milk on a wheelbarrow before feeding orphan elephants. The calf was discovered “too late for successful surgery,” said Edwin Lusichi, 42, head keeper at the DSWT, Luggard’s new home. With the rest of the gang of 20 elephant babies in this unusual orphanage, Luggard comes charging with great enthusiasm, though hobbling heavily on his deformed leg, out of the bush for a 9:00 am feeding. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

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The calves greedily slurp from oversized “baby bottles”, rumbling contentedly and trumpeting excitedly as they ingest the special mix of human baby formula, water and vitamins. “We rescue them from just a few days old,” DSWT administrator Kirsty Smith told AFP. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2019 5:22 PM

The calves greedily slurp from oversized “baby bottles”, rumbling contentedly and trumpeting excitedly as they ingest the special mix of human baby formula, water and vitamins. “We rescue them from just a few days old,” DSWT administrator Kirsty Smith told AFP. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

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An orphan elephant is fed with milk by a keeper. “Sometimes the elephants get into the communities, farms and homes, people fight them, chase them away, and in the process of the fight they (the babies) get separated from their families,” Lusichi explained. Without its mother, an elephant calf will die. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2019 5:22 PM

An orphan elephant is fed with milk by a keeper. “Sometimes the elephants get into the communities, farms and homes, people fight them, chase them away, and in the process of the fight they (the babies) get separated from their families,” Lusichi explained. Without its mother, an elephant calf will die. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

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The youngest elephant in the centre’s care is Larro, 10 months (pictured). She was found lost and alone in the Maasai Mara game reserve, likely after her family clashed with humans. They are weaned between the ages of five and 10, when they enter adolescence. Adulthood starts around the age of 18, and left undisturbed, elephants can live to be 70. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2019 5:22 PM

The youngest elephant in the centre’s care is Larro, 10 months (pictured). She was found lost and alone in the Maasai Mara game reserve, likely after her family clashed with humans. They are weaned between the ages of five and 10, when they enter adolescence. Adulthood starts around the age of 18, and left undisturbed, elephants can live to be 70. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

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But poaching claims many prematurely. About 20,000 African elephants per year -- 55 per day -- are killed, mainly for their tusks, according to the WWF. “You’re killing a whole elephant just to have the tusks! For what -- just to have an ornament?” asks an exasperated Lusichi. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2019 5:22 PM

But poaching claims many prematurely. About 20,000 African elephants per year -- 55 per day -- are killed, mainly for their tusks, according to the WWF. “You’re killing a whole elephant just to have the tusks! For what -- just to have an ornament?” asks an exasperated Lusichi. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

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Lusichi points to Enkesha, a tiny two-year-old. “You see the trunk? She was found trapped in a snare” which all but severed the appendage elephants use to breathe, eat, drink water, and communicate. Enkesha was rescued, stitched up, and after a long rehabilitation, now uses her badly-scarred trunk almost as normal, ripping up grass to eat and sucking up water. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2019 5:22 PM

Lusichi points to Enkesha, a tiny two-year-old. “You see the trunk? She was found trapped in a snare” which all but severed the appendage elephants use to breathe, eat, drink water, and communicate. Enkesha was rescued, stitched up, and after a long rehabilitation, now uses her badly-scarred trunk almost as normal, ripping up grass to eat and sucking up water. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

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The nursery keeps babies like Luggard, Larro and Enkesha until they are about three -- the age at which elephants start craving more independence. But until then, they receive 24-7 care with a bottle feeding every three hours. “It’s similar to spending a night in a bedroom with... a human baby,” said Julius Shivegha, 43, one of the caretakers. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2019 5:22 PM

The nursery keeps babies like Luggard, Larro and Enkesha until they are about three -- the age at which elephants start craving more independence. But until then, they receive 24-7 care with a bottle feeding every three hours. “It’s similar to spending a night in a bedroom with... a human baby,” said Julius Shivegha, 43, one of the caretakers. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

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The bond between animal and human is a close one. During the daytime, the keepers accompany the group as they wander about the savannah, browsing and playing. They call their charges by name, and the elephants respond. As a treat, the keepers prepare mud baths into which the babies dive with abandon, wildly splashing the wet earth around with their trunks. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2019 5:22 PM

The bond between animal and human is a close one. During the daytime, the keepers accompany the group as they wander about the savannah, browsing and playing. They call their charges by name, and the elephants respond. As a treat, the keepers prepare mud baths into which the babies dive with abandon, wildly splashing the wet earth around with their trunks. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

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“Sometimes we just cuddle them, we hug them. Some of them will keep on trying to just grab your hands or suck your fingers like a pacifier. All of this makes them really close to us... We are their mothers,” Shivegha said. This makes for a “bitter-sweet” separation: when the elephants graduate from the nursery, they go to one of three reintegration centres at Tsavo. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2019 5:22 PM

“Sometimes we just cuddle them, we hug them. Some of them will keep on trying to just grab your hands or suck your fingers like a pacifier. All of this makes them really close to us... We are their mothers,” Shivegha said. This makes for a “bitter-sweet” separation: when the elephants graduate from the nursery, they go to one of three reintegration centres at Tsavo. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

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Ending attacks on elephants is difficult in a part of the world where poverty and the danger posed to human life and property by elephant herds, are seen as justification. To try and change mindsets, the DSWT takes children on excursions to cultivate a love for wildlife. Also, crucially, “let’s try and stop the end product market, let’s tell people to stop buying (ivory),” Shivegha urged. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

Updated on Mar 22, 2019 5:22 PM

Ending attacks on elephants is difficult in a part of the world where poverty and the danger posed to human life and property by elephant herds, are seen as justification. To try and change mindsets, the DSWT takes children on excursions to cultivate a love for wildlife. Also, crucially, “let’s try and stop the end product market, let’s tell people to stop buying (ivory),” Shivegha urged. (Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP)

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