A brave individuals rescued an injured elephant calf after it was trapped in a p.o.a..cher’s s..nare and at.t.acked with an s.pear.
The one-year-old calf, Simotua, was left earlier this year in Kenya’s 15,000-acre Rumuruti Forest.
It is thought that p.o.a.c.hers dropped him after learning that the baby missed the ivory tusks they were looking for.
The baby had a big s.pear injury to his s.kull and a dea.dly s.nare wrapped around his leg, both of which were potentially l.e.thal.
He was transported to the local airfield after being saved by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT), where he was greeted by a skilled veterinary crew who checked his injuries before a one-hour flight.
Simotua was then taken 230 kilometers to an orphanage called DSWT in Nairobi National Park, where he got the help he needed.
“We assume Simotua was at.t.acked by ivory p.o.a.chers – the s.n.a.re had cut through the skin and flesh on his leg, cutting down to the bone, making any action extremely painful and limiting his ability to move freely,” said Rob Brandford, Executive Director of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (UK).
The rescue crew cuts the dangerous s…nare that was wrapped around the elephant’s leg.
After discovering the elephant alone and wounded, the rescue crew loads him onto a truck.
“Without intervention, he would have passed away from starvation or infection in his wounds.”
Our staff did everything they could to soothe him during the procedure, making sure his wounds were washed and disinfected, packed with green clay, and antibiotics were supplied.
Rob says that Simotua is getting better quickly and that she has made some friends at the orphanage.
Two weeks after his rescue, his wounds had recovered sufficiently for him to go out of his guardhouse and stroll across the woods for the first time, as he gently put weight on his wounded leg,’ he added.
“He thrives with the other newborn calf orphans who are critical to his recovery process—their soft trunk touches tell Simotua that he is in a secure environment.”
The organization said more than 90 orphan elephants that we have saved are now experiencing a full life back in the wild, and we are hopeful that Simotua will be able to join them in a few years when he is fully mature.
The charity’s founder, Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick, wants to utilize World Elephant Day to spotlight this cancerous condition plaguing one of the planet’s gentle giants.
‘We are at a crossroads for the survival of wild elephants,’ she added. Every day, we see the devastation caused by the ivory trade, but man-made extinction cannot be the end of this iconic animal.
‘As the ivory trade fuels more pointless d.e.a.t.hs of these lovely animals, their loss will eventually have an impact on all of us. ‘
