We adopted her this week! I watched a story on tv about this elephant orphanage in Kenya and couldn't stop thinking about it. These poor babies are mostly orphaned because their parents fall victim to poachers. The goal is to raise them and release them back into the wild.
When the are rescued they meet their foster parent who live with them 24/7 (like their biological parents would). Once they are released back into the wild they do not forget their family at the orphanage. They come back when/if they get hurt or sick to see the doctors, they come back to greet new babies and sometimes they stop by to just say hi to their foster parents! They are such amazing animals!
Here is Tumarens Story...
Name: Tumaren
Gender: Female
Date Born:September 26, 2008
Found: Alone, Standing by her dying mother
Location: Tumaren Ranch-Laikipia
Age on Arrival: 10 Months
Reason for being Orphaned: Poaching
7/22/2009 - The rescue of Tumaren
5pm on the 20th of July brought a call for Kerry Glen of Tumaren Ranch in Laikipia that a baby elephant had been seen by a dying mother, with no other elephants around. The mother elephant appeared paralyzed, possibly poisoned but the reason was uncertain.
The decision was made to capture the calf, since the mother was obviously beyond recovery. Kerry Glen and Jamie, along with the ranch workers captured the calf, fearing that it would not survive the death of its mother, since predators were prevalent on the ranch, and her mother was later euthanased by KWS. She was taken to their home, where Jamie remained near the calf in an adjoining room all night. It was a sleepless and very disturbed ordeal, because the distraught baby, cried all night for her mother, and even tried desperately to climb through a window.
The calf was flown to the Nairobi Nursery on the 21st July 2009 arriving at noon. She was still strong and aggressive (a good sign denoting the will to live and the reserves to make an effort), but she soon calmed down once the other Nursery elephants were brought in to impart hope and encouragement. The other orphans gave her a warm welcome, and immediately she responded, turning into a very affectionate member of the herd, calm and friendly to both her elephant orphan peers and their human family.
We named the new arrival “Tumaren” to denote her origin. She is about 10 months old and becomes the 22nd member of our Nursery herd of mini orphans ever partaking of the mudbath along with the others. An enchanting addition to the group, popular with the other elephants as well as her human admirers.
The Foster Parents send out updates monthly about how and what the orphans have been up to.
Here is the latest on Tumaren...
9/21/2010 - he orphans browsed peacefully in the forest, Sities sandwiched between Suguta and Olare enjoying the loving of both older girls. Sities then saw Chemi Chemi and Kibo playing a pushing game and decided to join them, running to come between the two boys and got pushed down by Kibo, who was targeting Chemi Chemi but got Sities instead. She screamed and within a second Suguta, Tumaren and Olare were there. Suguta went for Kibo who was standing over Sities as she was getting up, probably wanting to say “sorry”, but Suguta knocked him to his knees. Chemi Chemi wisely took off at speed to avoid being punished.
During the mudbath hour, a lion came to the nearby rocks adjoining the forest, eyeing the warthogs who were near the elephants t the mudbath. The warthogs disappeared post- haste!
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