Another orphan - Pesi
At 6 a.m. during the morning of the l8th August, 2009, community folk from Rumuruti spotted a tiny baby elephant stuck in the mud of the drying Pesi Swamp. There were no other elephants in the area, so the community alerted the Kenyan Wildlife Service who came to rescue the tiny newborn calf at 7 a.m., and alerted the Trust that yet another Rescue was required.
The calf was back in the Nairobi Nursery by noon, a tiny newborn baby bull, whose umbilicus was still moist and whose ears were petal pink and soft, indicative the he was brand new and might not have even suckled his elephant mother to benefit from her first colustrum milk which imparts the antibodies a baby needs to trigger the immune system for survival.
Very fortunately, we still had a stock of frozen Plasma spun from the blood of a healthy Mara Bull elephant. This was injected into a saline drip bag and immediately infused into the calf’s ear vein, the vital life support a newborn elephant needs for even a chance of survival. So far, little Pesi, as he has been named, is doing well, and is an enchanting and very endearing miniature who captures the hearts of all who meet him. Shaded by an umbrella to protect his baby ears and body from sunburn, and still fed on demand, he spends his days happily playing with his Keepers near the Elephant Stables, still too young and fragile to be with all the others. His rescue brings the number in the Nairobi Nursery to 25, now that Tassia and Taveta have been send to join Lesanju’s group at the Voi Rehabilitation Centre to free up Nursery space for others that are bound to need help during this extremely challenging year.
Article and photos at: http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/asp/orphan_profile.asp?N=224
