Mount Kenya Trust

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Mar 03 2008 | By: admin

On Friday evening, exhausted and having caught flu I returned from a trip up north for meetings about the elephant corridor and a subsequently postponed Trustees meeting (a long story). So was having a little lie on Saturday morning when I got a call from Edwin - soon to be head of the community division of our Joint Wildlife Protection team. It was around 8:30 am and he had been informed about an abandoned baby elephant near where he lives in the Sagana Settlement Scheme area, just bordering the Mt Kenya National Reserve on the southwestern side of Mt Kenya.

It is unusual for a calf who is not hurt or has not fallen into a hole or a well to be separated from its family. However, in a few cases they might be ill and not strong enough to keep moving with a herd or the herd is forced to move so quickly through an area that know to be danagerous that a little one might not keep up or get stuck on the wrong side of a fence. I called the Senior Warden first to get permission for Edwin to take action and then made sure that the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust would be willing to help me organise getting the little calf to their HQ in Nairobi National Park. They are always ready to assist and immediately had a charter plane on standby in Nairobi to collect the elephant from the nearest airstrip at Nanyuki. The difficult task was down to Edwin - getting the elephant transported to Nanyuki which is a good 40 mins drive away. He managed to hire a pick up and collect some KWS rangers from their post at Kihari Gate. Together with the community they managed after several hours to load her in the pick up and cover her in a tarpaulin so that she would be less distressed.

Some hours after that first call from Edwin I was relieved to hear they were on their way to meet the plane with the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust team waiting for them. Arriving at the Airstrip the team gave the little ele water and then sedated her before loading her carefully onto the chartered plane.

Safely at the Trust where she now sleeps with experienced Keepers and spends her days walking out with other orphans, the Keepers at the Sheldrick Trust decided to name the 8 month old baby Kenya. She will remind us of the time a coalition was finally signed between the leaders of a country divided and held to ransome by greedy hardliners. It is a good time for all democratically minded people and a time of celebration for the solidarity that most Kenyans feel for one another. We think it is fitting that an elephant called Kenya will help us to remember be grateful for this time.

Edwin and I visited Kenya today. She is already socialising well with her peers and drinking the milk formula which she will need for another 2 and a half years. Kenya is the one in the blanket in the photos below. Edwin is in blue petting Kenya in the last photo. He accompanied little Kenya all the way to Nairobi from Mt Kenya to her new home. Thanks to the experience of the unbelievable team at the DSWT there is hope that Kenya can have a heathy and happy life and join other orphaned elephants who make it in the wild as a mature adult. Something we very much hope for Kenya the country.

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