Baby Ele to Love

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Had an amazing breakfast and set out to find the office I’m leaving from. Managed to find it and used all the rest of my money to pay my balance, got very lucky there. Leaving for the park as a volunteer rather than visitor was really exciting and arriving was surreal. We spend the day getting orientated and fed. I follow the news feed on the park so I knew that they had a 8day old baby which they had just rescued. He had been rejected by his mother and Lek and her team had brought him to the park with his mother. They both still belong to the village and the whole situation is very complicated as although they are paying for all his vetenary treatment and providing 24hour care, he could be taken back at any stage. This happens alot and the elephants will go back traditional training and an uncertain future, treated as a commodity not the beautiful, intelligent animal that they are. Here they train with positive re-enforcement and love. So I asked after him and on my way round the park was talking to some of the girls who’d been here a while about my background and experience and was invited to help take care of him.

So that night at 10:30, I came out for my three hour shift and for those few hours, he was mine to love. He is very sick as he is suffering from malnourishment, dehydration and emotional trauma and stress. The milk is formula and so not as nourishing and does not provide him with the basis of an immune system. You can see every bone on his body and it’s appalling to see. He should be with him mother but she doesn’t have any natural interest and the village had little means or motivation to care for him so he had been let to get into a bad state. We bottle feed him, keep him warm and feeling secure, keep flies and mosquitoes away and supervise and monitor him in his shelter. Getting him to sleep is a challenge, he’s like a little boy who doesn’t want to go to bed but when he drops you lay him on a blanket to protect his infected eyes and you crawl behind him and hold him to help him sleep and smooth him. Yes, I spooned a baby elephant, with my arm across him like a truck, put the net down and got a nap in myself. He doesn’t sleep long, it’s like having a little baby and he just isn’t well. As this is so unusual, even these, the most professional and loving individuals are conflicted with what to do each day. He should be with his own kind but what’s the next best thing? Luckily, he lives next door, so it’s so easy to get back and sleep at 2am.

Night, Katie xx

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