REPORT OF BABY ELEPHANT SAVED
BY LAURA MARCHITTO
Two special days in a row is unbelievable. I told you that yesterday my Grandson was being born while we were saving a baby Elephant. Today (August 4, 2011), I saw my Grandson’s picture for the first time and we saw the baby Elephant we helped last night on the river in the park eating and drinking. What great day! I posted last night’s pictures and today’s pictures of the baby Elephant. I actually really made a big error in taking pictures because it was dark by the time we went to assist the Baby Elephant (I had a setting on that did not allow a flash and by the time I was told, many of some really good pictures did not come out). At any rate, what I wanted to show with the pictures is how hard everyone worked as a team trying to save/treat this baby Elephant. It has been hanging around a game lodge and was in apparent distress due to his tail being chewed off (we can only guess that a predator chewed his tail). Clay felt that the baby Elephant may have died due to the severity of the injury. Our first thoughts were to tranquilize the baby and moved it into the park (the game lodge was next to the park so we would not had to take him very far but we wanted to get him into the park so he would not wander into town). However, trying to pick the baby up without a crane or some type of mechanical device became apparent that it could not be done with the number of individuals that we had at hand after a couple of attempts.
Since it was night time when we were told about the distressed baby, there were not enough people around to be able to pick the baby up and put it into a truck to move into the park. I stopped taking pictures after the Elephant was treated and so I could assist in the treatment of the Elephant. While everyone possible was trying to pick up the baby, I was holding his trunk and making sure he was breathing properly and keeping his eyes covered with a blanket. You can see in the pictures when Keith was holding the babies trunk and Clay was treating him that it was very hard work since the baby was so large. I wanted all to know that even though this was one of the most rewarding things that one can do, that it was exhausting work. Clay used lots of antibiotics and antiinflamatories to assist in healing the baby Elephant. You can also see when he was walking around after he woke up that we also kept him cooled with water (that is why he looks so dirty) so, today it was extremely exciting to see the baby elephant in the park eating and drinking. I am so thankful to be able to assist these amazing creatures. I am very blessed.
