Animal Welfare South Africa Project #62124

Orphan Calf Phabeni's Fundraiser

by Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation & Development

Project Report | Jul 15, 2024
Phabeni, Forever in Our Hearts!

By Sunel Craythorne | Fundraising Administrator

This will be our last report on our Orphan Elephant Calf Phabeni, as we will be closing our Project on GlobalGiving for the little bull.

We are devastated to have to share the news with you that Phabeni passed away in our care, following a seven-month battle of ups and downs with his health. You can find more information in our video here: https://youtu.be/I6qmcGgGqv0

The autopsy results showed acute enteritis. There were multiple challenges that Phabeni was already facing for several weeks. His body was continuing to go through bouts of infection, which we would treat and help clear through antibiotics. The cause of the infection was not removed and so the infection continued to return. If this was due to the broken bone in his hip, caused by the dart used to tranquilise him during his rescue, Phabeni was never strong enough for us to perform the operation to remove the broken bone.

On top of this, he cut his first tusk the week before he passed away, and his second tusk was swollen and red, ready to erupt. During this stage of teething, we have battled every time with the orphan calves and statistics show that most babies are lost during this teething period.

As per the words of Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and their elephant orphanage in Kenya: “No-one knows the secret of wild natural Mother Elephants, whose calves cut their initial first four molars seemingly without any problem, but here in our Nairobi Nursery the teething process is invariably life-threatening. We have lost many otherwise healthy calves during this critical process. In a captive situation the teething in baby elephants, occurs between the age of 1 and 4 months, triggers fevers, lethargy, loss of appetite and life-threatening diarrheoa that is difficult to bring under control, not helped by the fact that the formula of the humanized base milk we use has apparently been adjusted by subsequent manufacturers, and is not quite as good as it used to be for essentially fragile infant elephant babies. During teething elephant babies usually have to be put on intravenous life-supporting electrolytes to replace the fluids they have lost through diarrheoa.”

Phabeni was certainly fussy regarding taste when it came to milk and food, which did not help matters as he needed a lot more nutrition than what he was taking in.

“Nature has made infant African elephants exceedingly fragile; they can be fine one day and dead the next and one can never be sure that a calf will survive until it is past its second birthday. “The hand-rearing of orphaned elephants is an emotional roller-coaster for those involved, for tragedy stalks success and can strike unexpectedly at any moment.” - Daphne Sheldrick

A Little Bull's Legacy

We gained so much insight through caring for Phabeni. The herd grew immensely, having him join their family. It will be a big challenge for the herd, for adoptive mother Setombe especially, to accept and come to terms with not seeing Phabeni anymore.

Phabeni was lucky in that he was able to find support from his own species again, and the imprint he leaves on the herd is obvious. He changed Setombe for the better, as the older female opened her heart to a calf who was not her own. Setombe showed immense strength of character and a deep nurturing nature, a fierceness, as she took Phabeni in almost immediately. Even Khanyisa, the youngest in the herd again, bonded with Phabeni, the littlest elephant she had ever met up close. She showed such genuine acceptance and kindness towards Phabeni that truly made us proud and showed that hers is a special heart.

We tried everything to help Phabeni over the months when his health battled. We leant on every contact, expert, friend, advisor and supporter that we could to create solutions to the different problems that Phabeni faced. Together, we all gave him the very best chance in life, but it simply was not enough. Thank you for loving him like we did, for learning from him like we did, and for letting his life matter.

Please read more in our blogs:

https://herd.org.za/blog/on-the-loss-of-phabeni-adines-letter/

https://herd.org.za/blog/a-sad-day-as-little-fighter-phabeni-passes-away-at-11-months-old/

We invite you to continue following our journey by supporting any of our other HERD projects below on our HERD GlobalGiving Page.

Fishan Brave Elephant who Survived a Fractured Leg

https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/fishan-brave-elephant-who-survived-a-fractured-leg/

Raising Khanyisa, Orphan Elephant Snaring Survivor

https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/raising-khanyisa-snaring-survivor/

HERD – Community Development Project

https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/herd-community-project/

Help Save an Elephants Home

https://globalgiving.org/projects/help-save-an-elephants-home

Help an Elephant, Help a Herd

https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/help-an-elephant-help-a-herd-1/

Thank you for all your support and kindness,

Warm Regards

Adine and The HERD Team

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Mar 18, 2024
A New Family for Orphan Elephant, Phabeni!

By Sunel Craythorne | Fundraising Administrator

What a privilege to report back to you on orphan elephant calf, Phabeni.

Little Phabeni is the newest orphan at HERD and was rescued in November 2023 as a four-month-old weighing 122kg. The bull had endured small wounds after being displaced from his herd and showed signs of dehydration. His mother and herd were nowhere in sight and since heavy rains had fallen, their tracks could not be located. Phabeni quickly recovered in the care of the HERD team, receiving milk bottles around the clock, and plenty of love and attention from his carers and companion sheep, Lammie and Spotty. Phabeni was named after the gate where the HERD team collected him, on the boundary of the Kruger Park. Phabeni means “Shelter” in Sotho. HERD would now be his shelter, as he embarked on a journey of integration into a new elephant herd.

Phabeni has come a long way since he was first rescued. He has been an energetic and feisty young bull from the very beginning, but shows true peace now among the legs of the gentle giants in the herd. We started Phabeni’s integration phase by getting him used to the elephants in the rescued herd, first through the fence at the bottom of the orphanage garden and then trunk-to-trunk in the homestead. Older bull Jabulani, also once an orphan himself, spent many mornings with Phabeni during the months of December and January, standing at the fence daily for about an hour or so. Phabeni showed huge interest in Jabulani during these morning visits.

Over the summer, we took to introducing Phabeni to several of the other elephants, with no barrier, starting with Jabulani, then Lundi; then Sebakwe and Somopane; then Setombe and Klaserie; and then the rest of the herd: Tokwe, Fishan, Khanyisa, Kumbura, Limpopo, Pisa, Timisa, Mambo and Zindoga. Watch the first introduction to the whole herd here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBDIMIpxTv0

Throughout his introductions to the herd, it was clear that Setombe was set on becoming mother to Phabeni, as she adopted this role from the very beginning and continued to give Phabeni dedicated support and protection daily.

Shortly after the introductions, Phabeni showed that he was ready to join the elephants out in the bush, taking his milk bottles with him to drink among his new family. This was an amazing step in his integration. Over the months, we will be watching closely as he bonds more deeply with different individuals and gets used to the herd. It is amazing how well and how quickly the little bull has adapted to all the changes. He is showing such confidence and courage, letting us know that this is just the family for him. He is home.

Thank you for all your support towards the herd and specifically Phabeni.

Thank you for your ongoing support and compassion.

Yours in conservation

Adine and the HERD Team

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