Celebrity baby ellie happily grounded
Paparazzi go wild about Zululand's new child star.
CONTENT with sticking close to mum, baby elephant Tom will not undertake any more walks on the wildside any time soon.
Once bitten, twice shy – Thula Thula’s wandering calf has learnt an important lesson and has become an international celebrity at the same time.
Lost for almost 18 hours after mysteriously straying from her herd at the exclusive Thula Thula Game Reserve last week, the one-week-old calf survived a traumatic ordeal with a little help from ‘above’.
A starving, dehydrated and visibly stressed baby Tom somehow landed on the stoep of Thula Thula owner Françoise Malby-Anthony, which led to a touching reunion with her mother later that night.
Evading dangerous predators of the night, baby Tom’s survival is being hailed as a ‘miracle’ with international media latching onto the Ntambanana ellie scoop this week.
Françoise Malby-Anthony said after the heartwarming story had been published in the Zululand Observer last week, she had been inundated with calls from the UK media, including the BBC, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph, as well as American mainstream publications the Los Angeles Times and the New York Post.
‘The story of baby Tom has touched the hearts of people around the world and it is just overwhelming! When we are faced with adversity everyday, we all want to experience an amazing story with a happy ending. Baby Tom has just started an international media frenzy,’ said Malby-Anthony.
A week later and the youngest member of the elephant herd has reportedly not left her mother’s side even ‘for a second’.
‘She is doing very well,’ Malby-Anthony said.
‘She doesn’t move away from her mother, ET. She is feeding well and our rangers are monitoring her progress daily.’
With elephants known as long distance travellers, it is possible that baby ‘Tom’ was exhausted and went missing while taking a small ‘siesta’.
Famous
Already boasting a huge fan club online, the famous baby ellie has won the hearts of readers across the globe after her adventure, which led her to the house of the late conservationist Lawrence Anthony.
‘Their intelligence, compassion and understanding far exceed the human race. We can all take many lessons from ellies,’ said Mervyn Solomon.
‘What an amazing story with such a good ending. Someone was looking out for that little one. In a world of many challenges, we need to be reminded of the goodness that exists,’ said Barbara Lebsock.
‘Just so lovely to see the Elephant Whisperer is still about!’ said Annalie Killian.
With her mother ET being rescued from the hands of trophy hunters more than a decade ago by Anthony, nothing is bound to separate this mother and daughter bond.
