In February 2001 a baby elephant
was born in the Lower Zambezi region of Zambia. Within
days, her mother was slaughtered by poachers and her
family herd vanished. Terrified and alone, she was found
by local villagers, still standing by the body of her
mother and trying to suckle for milk. She was taken
back to the village and tied up by a rope for three
days while the villagers tried to decide what to do
with her. She was discovered by a Park Ranger who sent
an SOS to Speciality Emergency Services (SES) who transported
her in a pick up truck for eight hours to her new home
at the Munda Wanga Wildlife Park, outside Lusaka. She
was exhausted, frail and terrified. After treatment
by local vets and specialist paramedics, a way was found
to feed her on a special milk formula and she was entrusted
to the care of local keepers Phiri and Lameck who looked
after her 24 hours a day. She was christened Phoenix.
Finally, after several setbacks, she began to show signs
of recovery although she was still so fearful that she
would not leave her keepers' side. Against all the odds,
and in contrast to many other tiny baby elephants that
have been rescued both before and since, Phoenix survived.
In Britain the David Shepherd
Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) adopted her and undertook
to maintain her daily upkeep. At two years old, Phoenix
was drinking 24 litres of milk per day and consumed
staggering amounts of fresh vegetables, peanuts, fruit
and maize meal. With her newfound confidence and strength
she began to cause widespread panic and mischief amongst
the workers at the Sanctuary testing her strength on
dust bins, wheel barrows, fences and doors. No challenge
was big enough for the young elephant.
For the first six years of her
life Phoenix was the premier attraction at Munda Wanga
Wildlife Centre where visitors increased tenfold, including
a huge number of school children. For most local people
it was the first time that they had ever seen an elephant
and it was certainly the closest that all of them have
ever been to one. She was very much loved.
However, Phoenix grew too big
to remain at Munda Wanga and the time came for her to
be released back into the wild where she belongs and
live the life of a wild elephant. In late September
2007, thanks to the generosity of DSWF supporters here
in the UK in response to a special appeal, she was transported
to Kafue National Park to begin her long walk to freedom.
DSWF has worked with the Zambian Wildlife Authority
to build an orphan release centre with Phoenix as the
first 'guest'. On arrival, she shot out of her container
and raced off into the bush. She then seemed to realise
that she was in strange surroundings and rushed back
to the security of her keepers. She has since revelled
in the delights of the bush during her daily walks,
drinking from rivers, having dust baths and exploring
the new sights and sounds. She has even seen a herd
of wild elephant but was terrified! They have visited
her in her boma (pen) at night and she is gradually
getting more used to them, but still sleeps with her
trunk curled through her keeper's hut window for comfort!
There are many herds of wild elephants
in Kafue giving Phoenix a greater chance of eventually
being adopted by one. In the meantime, she is accompanied
and monitored by her two keepers who will remain constantly
with her until she is truly ready to take her final
steps to freedom.
NEWS UPDATE
In just a few weeks, news spread
of the new release centre 'orphanage'. Despite its basic
facilities we have received requests from all over Zambia
for help with newly orphaned elephant calves who have
so tragically lost their mothers through poaching.
These tiny terrified babies desperately
need a safe and secure home to bring them up in an environment
which will secure their future. Having been open for
just over a month there are now already three new tiny
baby orphans whose future might well depend on the orphanage
and whose daily care, until they are ready to return
to the wild, will necessitate long-term funding.
Chodoba
(something that has been lost and found in the local
language Nyanja).
Chodoba is a young male elephant close to three years
old who was found wandering alone near a camp for nearly
six weeks. Local people took an interest in him and
monitored his deterioration for more than three weeks
in the hope that he would be taken in by other elephants.
Although many were around on a regular basis, neither
Chodoba nor any of the other elephants took any interest
in each other. October in Luangwa is a harsh time for
animals anyway and Chodoba was becoming increasingly
thin day by day, so once his ribs started poking out
the decision was taken to step in and "rescue"
him. Zambia loses many elephants every year to poaching
and some suffer slow and painful deaths from wire snares
- each individual is therefore precious. With the full
support of the Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) Chodoba
was darted and moved to a temporary new home to try
and fatten him up. At first it was thought that he might
have something wrong with him as he was so lethargic
and weak, but it was soon realized this was totally
due to his poor condition and lack of nutrition.
After a few weeks he was deemed
strong enough to be transported by road to the new DSWF-backed
"orphanage" in Kafue National Park where he
would definitely benefit from the company of Phoenix
and another young elephant from Lower Zambezi called
Zamma.
Chodoba handled the journey extremely
well and on reaching Kafue, he calmly stepped off the
vehicle into his new home and started feeding. He has
not stopped since and we hope that in the next few months
he will put on weight and become strong again. He is
being monitored by keepers from the David Shepherd Foundation
and human contact is being kept to a minimum, with the
focus being on contact with Zamma and Phoenix.
Chamilandu
The day before Chodoba was due to be transported to
Kafue, the South Luangwa Conservation Group received
a report of a wounded elephant cow with a young calf
at Chamilandu camp inside the park. After going down
to check on the elephant they found that she was in
a terrible state, emaciated, in agony with a hugely
swollen and infected leg and hardly able to move. The
wound appeared to be from a gunshot. In a case like
this the decision is normally straight forward and the
elephant should be euthanized. However, she had a young
calf that was not yet weaned and could not possibly
survive alone. If the decision is made to shoot the
mother, the calf becomes the responsibility of its "rescuers".
Arrangements were made to have milk formula donated
and sent up by the David Shepherd Foundation to Chamilandu
camp. The following day the mother elephant was put
out of her agony. Her ordeal was over in seconds but
only just beginning for the calf.
Chamilandu was then tranquilized
and put in to a separate boma for the night from which
she frantically tried to escape. She was obviously terrified
and lost without her mother. The second night saw improvement
and she had calmed down and was drinking milk without
problems. She is now on thirty litres per day and in
good health. She needs to be moved to Kafue as soon
as possible to join up with her new family, Phoenix,
Chodoba and Zamma.
Zamma
& Chamilandu Update
Zamma
Zamma was found abandoned in Lower Zambezi NP in August
2007. It is thought that poachers shot his mother and
then he was left behind when the rest of the herd fled
for safety. Rescued by Conservation Lower Zambezi (CLZ)
he was flown in to the orphanage in October. At only
7 months old, he is the most lively and inquisitive
of the group and is always looking for someone to play
games with him.
Chamilandu
After Chodoba's long trip, it
was decided to try to raise the money to charter a flight
for Chamilandu, shortening the journey to just 2 1/2
hours in the air. However the cost was very expensive
and an appeal was sent round the world. Within days
the money was raised and the flight booked.
Just two days ago, at 04.30 a.m.
vehicles started arriving at Chipembele to begin the
move. Chamilandu was injected with a sedative, but even
so she managed to find the strength to break the flimsy
wooden end to her crate and it quickly had to be adjusted
so she could see out, as well as strengthened. With
her vision of the world restored, she settled down and
watched as about a dozen scouts and others struggled
to lift her into the back of the Chipembele truck.
She was then driven to Mfuwe airport
where the plane was waiting for her. Transferring Chamilandu
in her crate was made so much easier by the fact that
the truck's floor and the plane's floor were almost
level and the crate was relatively easily moved into
the plane. The seats of both the plane and the truck
had been removed to make the task easier.
Chamilandu (named after
the lodge where her and her mother were found) will
join Chodoba, Pheonix and Zamma in Kafue National Park,
at the DSWF-funded elephant orphanage.
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