HERD - Baby Albino Elephant Khanyisa's Fundraiser

Dear Herd Family

We hope you and your family are all doing well.

We are happy to announce that HERD Trust is now a registered PBO! Reference number: 930072153

In addition to this, we have launched HERD Trust – an umbrella encompassing all our growing conservation and community operations – the kind of umbrella that saw albino calf, Khanyisa through her most fragile days at the orphanage. An umbrella of care…

We are excited to branch out into providing more opportunities for the people around us and to combat human-elephant conflict through sustainability, school education programmes, and empowerment projects.

HERD will therefore be moving away from the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT), who have been our umbrella since our inception in 2019. We are grateful for the incredible work WCT does for wildlife conservation.

This means that all funding for HERD Trust, for the support and care of the elephant orphans and herd, and our elephant conservation initiatives, will now go directly to HERD.

We have created a new HERD Trust listing on GlobalGiving, where we will continue fundraising projects that you can support.

The first project on our new page is: Raising Khanyisa, Orphan Elephant Snaring Survivor https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/raising-khanyisa-snaring-survivor/

We have two projects that we will continue running on the WCT page:

1. Baby Albino Elephant Khanyisa’s Fundraiser – to close once the target has been reached
2. In Memory of Orphaned Elephant Calf Fenya – to remain open until June 2022 which has won project of the month.

We are excited to be embarking on this new chapter with you, our HERD Family, and to be growing our community of elephant custodians.

We invite you to support our new project and our HERD Trust GlobalGiving Page: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/raising-khanyisa-snaring-survivor/

Thank you for your continuous support,

Yours in conservation

Adine and the HERD team

Links:

• Raising Khanyisa, Orphan Elephant Snaring Survivor

Albino Elephant Khanyisa has just turned TWO! And we are very humbled to celebrate this special milestone for her!

She also has tusks!

While we could feel the beginnings of her tusks as hard bulges beside her mouth in August 2020, Khanyisa’s tusks are now visible. She was clearly growing them in secret for some time. It only became clear to us in August that they were growing out when she started to rub the sides of her mouth on hard surfaces, such as the wooden poles in the nursery, more and more. She continues to even rub her tusks against her team of dedicated elephant carers. 

The two hard protrusions on either side of her mouth are black at the base and white-yellow at the tip, with about half a thumb of tusk visible externally. Adine Roode, Founder of HERD, South Africa’s first dedicated elephant orphanage, administers regular check-ups on the albino calf in our care, and

also spotted the tiny tusks poking out of their sockets as Khanyisa lifted her head when drinking milk bottles at the orphanage or in the reserve with the bigger elephants

She unfortunately also went through a tough time during August and beginning of September, as she was feeling poorly, drinking less milk and she lost some weight. We had our dedicated and loving Wildlife Vet, Dr. Rogers, come in to do some tests, adjust her diet and monitor her closely! Many of you were very concerned for her as you could see the change in her demeanour. We are extremely grateful to report that she is doing much better. She is on track with gaining weight and she is drinking her milk and grazing happily!

The South African bush is very dry at the moment, and this makes it harder for the elephants to graze and get enough nutrition. It is especially difficult for Khanyisa as she learns to use her trunk in foraging. However, we have had amazing donations of various citrus fruits, gems, and butternuts from local farmers in the area. Our dedicated carers are constantly supporting Khanyisa in her diet, and the milk formula goes a very long way in making sure she gets exactly the nutrients that her growing body needs!

We are so grateful to each donor that participated in the July Bonus Day as well and the Little-by-little campaigns. Your donations have helped us to continue providing milk formula, medicine, vet visits and everything she needs. We continue to look ahead with hope and expectation in our hearts. We also look forward to the much-needed rainy season that lies ahead!

We know that with YOU by our side we can continue on this journey with Khanyisa, and we are so grateful for you.