Help an Elephant, Help a Herd

We are excited to share a report on our elephant herd!

There are mud lovers and water lovers and among the former is certainly Limpopo. Among the water babies are Sebakwe, Fishan, Bubi, Khanyisa, and again Limpopo. Nothing keeps the matriarch’s daughter from the dam’s joys when the sun is out. Even Jabulani and Lundi have been daring to indulge themselves and cool off in the waterhole, splashing everyone around them Sebakwe frequently shows off his fierce splash routine!

Just watch the herd at play here: https://youtu.be/fTdkLu4I0mo

Tokwe has certainly kept us on our toes over the last few weeks, going AWOL in the night on one occasion and kidnapping a wild calf on another. Certainly odd behaviour for the Matriarch!

Read about our night search for Tokwe in our blog - https://herd.org.za/blog/matriarch-tokwe-on-the-run-after-wild-elephants-a-night-search-mission/ and watch it here: https://youtu.be/P1qTjajLan4

Read about the kidnapping event, with Lundi, Pisa and Fishan accompanying Tokwe in our blog - https://herd.org.za/blog/elephant-kidnapping-tokwe-lundi-take-calf-of-wild-albino-elephant/ and watch it here: https://youtu.be/goPuky-OwmE

Tokwe’s daughter, Pisa recently needed medical attention from our wildlife vets, Dr. Peter Rogers and Dr. Ben Muller. She developed an abscess on the skin underneath her, between her back legs. Dr. Rogers arrived to treat her and sedated her with standing sedation, while he took to draining the abscess and administering antibiotics and painkillers. Elephant Manager, Tigere stood by young Pisa's side throughout the procedure to keep an eye on her and keep her calm in case she started to wake up. Adine filmed the process for us, capturing the closeups of pus draining from the abscess: https://youtu.be/lSMhzpV0f-Y

Dr. Rogers then gave Pisa medicine called an antidote, to wake her from the sedation and she quickly took to moving off. The team kept watch over her as she re-joined her friends, Timisa and Kumbura. Two weeks later, we felt that the abscess had not drained sufficiently and was still swollen, and called in Dr. Muller since Dr. Rogers was busy with a rhino procedure. Dr. Muller similarly sedated Pisa and helped to further drain the abscess, making an incision to remove the pus, and inserting cloth swabs to soak up the fluid. He also boosted her with Vitamin E to support wound healing on a cellular level and other mineral and vitamin supplements, as well as more antibiotics. Altogether this did the trick and the abscess has healed well and Pisa has recovered beautifully.

We are so grateful for the help of our wildlife vets and for our supporters, as it is only through your donations that we are able to cover the immense cost of such medical and veterinary treatments for the elephants.

Enjoy more moments with the herd below:

Amazing Elephant Acrobatics as the Herd Play & Spar in the Mud - https://youtu.be/y4SaQ7ZZy-g

Unexpected Encounters as Elephant Bull Zindoga Mounts & Chases after Pisa - https://youtu.be/kDVyfjgbRhU

Special Timisa Time, Watch Zindoga Playing Big Brother to Baby Elephant Khanyisa - https://youtu.be/Qo-kFBvWaNk

Discover what it takes to feed the elephant herd as we share details in this video: https://youtu.be/y81Zve05bjQ and find the answers to several FAQs here - https://youtu.be/wczrDnAzEWs

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for continuing to support the elephants.

Every elephant needs a herd. Every orphan elephant deserves a second chance at life.

Keep an eye on our social media platforms for daily updates and news.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/HERDElephantOrphanageSouthAfrica

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HERDElephantsSA

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herd_elephants/

Warm Regards

Adine and the HERD Team