saving one elephant calf can make a big difference

In Burkina Faso, we’re rehabilitating a single elephant calf, finding her herd, and preparing her for reintegration.

Problem

An elephant named Nania was just three months old when she got separated from her herd.

She was lost, confused and alone. She wandered into a local village. The people there wanted to help. So, they raised money to buy her formula, which elephant calves need every two to three hours to survive, and the pupils gave her a name: Nania, the word for “will” in Dioula, one of the local languages.

But the villagers knew that they didn’t have the skills or the resources to properly care for her. So they came to us.

Solution

We’ve been working with the local authorities and the community to take care of Nania. There are only a few dozen elephants who live in the national park where Nania comes from, and we know that saving even one of them makes a big difference.

Nania now has four keepers to take care of her. They feed her and give her formula and they’re working to ensure that Nania learns the survival skills necessary to thrive in an elephant herd.

We are currently moving her deeper into the national park where her keepers can walk her into the forest to find her original herd. If we cannot find her herd, we'll work to ensure she is accepted and integrated into a new one once she is ready for release.