AFTER being abandoned by his herd and suffering from a slew of ailments, a two-week old baby elephant arrived at the Thula Thula Private Game Reserve near Empangeni last year fighting for survival.
‘Unless you’ve nursed an elephant calf and especially one that is a tiny, milk-dependent baby with a large umbilical abscess, naval/joint illness and septicaemia, you cannot even begin to imagine the intensity and challenge,’ wrote Karen Trendler, rehabilitation and crisis response expert at the orphanage.
Against the odds, Trendler and a dedicated team battled intensively round the clock to give the young elephant, formally named ‘Unbuntu; and nicknamed ‘Ellie’, the best possible chance of survival.
In the wild, elephants rely on strong social bonds, so without his herd, Ellie was having trouble adjusting.
Just when things were looking particularly grim for the struggling youngster, staff at the orphanage introduced him to Duma – a former service and sniffer dog – and the two instantly formed an unlikely bond. ‘It immediately cheered the elephant up,’ Trendler explains.
‘He suddenly started getting a little bit of interest in life again.’
