Poor little elephant, it breaks my heart.
Narripi’s short life was plagued with insurmountable obstacles, and
today the
4th of October at 4.00pm he slipped into a coma and drew his last
breath. He
was always a subdued little elephant from the day he arrived but hardly
surprising having lost his whole herd one fateful night when he fell
into a man
made well and his herd was unable to retrieve him. Later that same
night his
trunk was ravaged by a hyena, but good fortune shone on him briefly
when a
Maasai discovered him tapped in the hole and went to seek help, and
Narripi was
rescued and brought to us at The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
But that was just the beginning of a five week battle for this
unfortunate
little baby, who seemed to have been dealt such an unfair start to
life. He
underwent surgery on his trunk which actually healed beautifully, and
then
immediately began the teething process which seems to bring on enormous
problems
for baby elephants being raised on a milk formula that is the best we
know, but
still a poor substitute for mother’s milk. He had the dedicated love of
his
Keepers, which he returned in heaps, and he later had the company of
little
Makena who he adored and was very protective of, always bringing her
back into
the fold gently guiding her the first few days when she was constantly
in
search of her mother.
He was however plagued with stomach problems
for weeks,
but it was the dreaded pneumonia that snatched his life, as his own
immune
system became weakened by the many antibiotics that he had to take for
both his
wound and stomach problems, and slowly and insidiously it took hold,
with the
only warning sign being his reluctance to sleep last night, instead
standing for
most of the night. In the morning he fed, slower than usual, and his
stools
seemed to be normal finally, so we were all beginning to feel like we
had won
the battle, and then at 1.30pm his trunk began to shiver, and then his
legs
began to shake. These are the all too familiar signs of pneumonia that
fill
each and every one of us with horror. We immediately administered
another
antibiotic desperate to try and catch the pneumonia in time, but the
rapid rate
he deteriorated shocked us all. We walked him slowly back to his
stable, as he
desperately gasped for air but soon he slipped away as the Keepers in a
last
desperate effort rubbed essential oils into his chest. For all of us
it was
another heartbreak, the Keepers leaving the stable, tears streaming
down their
faces, as no one was prepared for what the day delivered, and for these
grown
men who had dedicated night and day to saving this calf to have it all
amount to
this was more than they could bare. None of us thought the little
elephant that
was playing in the dust outside Kwale’s stockade for Kwale’s two days
in the
nursery would end up buried beside him a few weeks later.
For those of you who are foster parents of Narripi we will
automatically be
transferring your fostering to Kora, another brave little male elephant
in the
nursery who managed to surmount unbelievable obstacles. However,
should you
prefer to foster another orphan please let us know. We are so sorry to
have to
be the bearers of such sad news.