was been with us now all 2 weeks to the day actually it was 2 weeks ago today that we rescued me and so we crossed the 10 day mark i mean he arrived very young very vulnerable and we didn't know it was going to be touch and go. deprived of their mothers' baby elephants can't survive in the wild without help unlike some other animals elephants won't really young that isn't. done since founded a scent of a wolf and animals to help them get back on their feet and prepare them to return to the wild. to be ok. that's because.

it. is so they elephants they start off the day when the sun rises in the morning the handlers come they clean out the stables they feed the elephants and then they let them out and they walk with them from the nursery. to the bush which is a $300.00 take to piece a virgin bush that they've got to themselves just their handlers and a few and to look so they come here in the morning they roam around freely together they feed stay eat range of things leave roots grass different things and they feed . drink water they also swim. in the mud just do things that elephants do and they do it together as a herd so they come here every day and then when it starts getting dark at about 4 or 5 o'clock they'll start walking together with they handlers back to the net. 3.

will or we got a phone call to say that there was this very young elephant that had been orphaned and he is a victim of poaching down in the south of the country. he was found a learn but in an area where there is. going on currently it's very very hot down there it's a very hostile environment to be a tough environment so we sent a plane and we collected him. once on the airplane usually depending on the situation of the cop. we put up a drip and we administer a few other critical components to making sure that the elephant survives the full journey of their playground this is usually anywhere between an hour the hof to 3

hours. it can be it can be one of the most challenging things because you're in a small airplane you have 802150 you know elephants that is that the plane with you and the change in air pressure at the pumps it can make it can make these journeys very difficult. so we've got to pat and. put him on the formula that he was he and we then realize that he's a very very young calf he has no teeth he doesn't know how to use his trunk it's his coordination is not they it is to make him to be i estimated to memorize or to be about 3 or 4 days old we use for limpopo we're using a moco is $26.00 gold this is

a human formula and we found that this formula. it's not perfect but it works ok. this is calcium. elephants need a huge amount of calcium for the bones so this is actually. dye calcium phosphate and it's been specifically measured. so that we know exactly how much she needs every day so she gets 2 of these skips it re day. what we also add is some. coconut milk unfortunately it's not fraîche but we don't have coconuts in zimbabwe so we have to use the. the turned the turned one. i mean we go. to find the baby.

the one awake during mate with billy bob i spend time about it and then we do the dishes but i'm taking care with the limpopo. he's so good he's. limpopo is a little one i'm sure about the 1002 exploded i'm not quite sure i think he's doing so well it is hard to work with these new. young. elephants. toughly. we are trying our best the 1st family moved to zimbabwe more than a 100 years ago for 5 generations they've tried to live in harmony with nature and keep it pristine for their descendants but it is damage that simple objective has become a real mission. where

the wildlife sanctuary it's on it's been developed on the family farm i'm a 4th generation zimbabwean my family moved 4 generations ago and we've been on this ever since this. is a commercial operation and there are about 2 and a half 1000 people living on this property. we've been looking after animals led by my mother she has been doing the work on that for more than 20 years but the slightly different because they can be. and they have the same lifetime as an elephant but when she decided to take on this work of looking after the often elephants. we were very excited about it of course but also a little bit nervous because it's such a lifetime commitment and it's a huge responsibility and a massive weight on all of our soul shoulders that it was one of happiness because

we. but also of nervousness of that lifetime commitment to looking after these animals which can live for 60 or 70 years. i very purchased with the weapon so there's still a problem in this area yes very it's a problem was it will be dreamed up are true as you discovered several friends yeah with the able to talk to me yes it. was that 20 short you know they have to be i thought ok just so they shoot the elephants training hunting rifles are going to get a great was how do they take over when you're going to be able to use the excess to

chop off big access to space and they cut the faces cut to the 50 forming a cold front yeah. our 1st rescue was a little elephant to morrow who was a victim of poaching and she was a tiny tiny little elephant and we didn't know very much about raising elephants at that time so i had done a lot of research and a lot of reading about how to raise baby elephants not realizing quite how different they are to all the other a 1000000 species that i had raised before and i've raised a lot of animals before it really was a big shock and i literally lived that elephant for months and months and months and it was a combination of all of. the physical obviously of of a night but also her emotional needs were significant and i found that i was able to really. engage with her and empathize with her. and become

a mom i needed to be her mother. you know i'll never i'll never forget that moment of seeing this little baby elephant run up to me lift up her trunk and it was it was a moment of recognition it was a moment where we kind of realized the bag i realize the magnitude and the responsibility of the work that my mother was doing. while i was no nearly 4. nearly 5 years old and she is a strong healthy elephant. again i think that's what is really powerful about this project is it's a legacy project these animals are they live to 607080 years old my mom isn't going to be around to see these animals in the. way.

this is the rough. he's been with us for 4 years from. the broken back. now. she is back left leg was broken and fused here. but he can still walk. but you can see where it was 4 and. 5 years old now. he's the oldest one in this group and this is boyle she nearly 5 years. young elephants have come to us after. myspace really brutal perching incidents because sadly the baby elephants often do see their mothers not only be killed but also be cut up and butchered and that's terrible i mean they carry that with them and sometimes we've had cases where. have been rescued and brought to us and

physically there's nothing wrong with them but they are just so heartbroken and and they just lose the will to live physically they can be healthy but if they've had too much trauma and they hold on to their trauma they can die they can literally die from a broken heart. do you believe elephants smile i see it in these little ones they hold facial expression changes and this little mouse they look up and i looks at you like this i met the whole the whole expression changes and that goes even when they're smiling. i have no science. to prove that i can't console yourself and smile they don't smile for me with my observations of

behavior when an elephant is happy particularly a baby their whole face lights up and it's just it's just it's so special to watch . and.

sue says. i say let's move. on. we're going to throw these critters. who want to talk about anything out of. you want to look at him and told. him don't eat too much get all the cars on the. earth a. good. point of time you don't come for.

it was. the. the. you.

know with this little infant i'll be happy why that's because those. children it's bad to say i'm. sure. any elephant will and i don't know but it seems like. the most difficult parts of the job would be. to make a decision. which i don't do very often and i don't take this decision lightly of when to say enough is enough when a baby has become so compromised and is suffering that we have to make the decision to put that animal to sleep. i've been have to be strong

for the animal i have to be strong for my team i have to be strong for the family but i have my own pain and i can only. deal with my own pain privately. so this is a very big bull elephant may be 30 or 40 years old walking along a in 2017 october. but when 17. we discovered that if we were painting elephants which were killed by say you need ways in. india to say no it was a still visit born. plastic bags used to bridge when the. industry. was dropping some stuff from the part of the oranges which waned in

a part of the plastics so i think that is all the one which attempted to be using this. from a far distance in the old they were also coming from the what a point. to the fitting. in 2017 china imposed on task and every imports however the number of elephants being killed is not diminishing every year african customs service is destroyed dozens of tonnes of ivory confiscated from poachers.

and perches were killed we. had one. that was short of them from a cross bench to actually be now. reports. and how many pieces of that they were there were. more divorce in each person was. a body from 50 to. 50. in this in this part of the country which is northwest in zimbabwe close to

victoria falls we have leased a vast expanse of land called the panda mystery forest and the reason we have leased this piece of land is specifically for us to have an area where we can eventually release our elephants to be free and live a life of freedom in the wild. but we also wanted to make an impact on the wild elephant populations that are living there and have been persecuted in the past not only by poaching but by hunting as well we moved the elephants the 1st 6 elephants from the nursery near to. all the way up to here to panama city 18 hour journey it was quite a quite a big one and quite complicated but it went very well and all of the elephants survived and very well. when we brought the elephants here from harare. the truck came here and we we offloaded them here not at the top because we were

worried that. if the truck was going up the hill that it would get stuck so we were worried about it getting stuck instead of that we we built this amp and this. so then the truck arrived and then we offloaded them and they walked themselves off into here and then they just spent one or 2 days here. while they were settling in and then after that one or 2 days we open the gates and we walked them into that where they've stayed since but we still use the sometimes if we need to keep them here the water so they come to drink else and the day. all the way to consume a national park and then across to botswana so it's a very big area surrounded by a protected area yeah that's what makes it so important for elephants is because it's right in the middle of a network of different protected areas and it was not safe before from hunting and

poaching so it was difficult for elephants to connect those areas now that it's safe and secure creates a much bigger area in terms of the small 'd puzzle of areas this is the middle piece and the last piece which we've now secured that's very good for elephants but for all other animals. it's meant to be. hello go go you know so i can go right good go right good go. go. go. and this is better not problem now i. that's got. the they're growing bigger these in. and they've said to settled in extremely nicely so they have adapted to the new food the new environment they're starting to

interact and communicate with the other wild elephants we are now allowing them to go further and further away from the bombers but it is a slow process and we are taking it very slowly and carefully because they are such big and complex animals so this work is about the protection of land for these rescued elephants 1st and foremost but there is a lot of benefits for the wild elephants that live on that land and move through that land which they can do now safely and freely. this is. safe within the fence and the elephants are sleeping inside the night and then over here where we are now is outside in the wild area and that's where there's all kinds of wild wild animals elephants lions buffalo but

the whole that's the safe. side yes the wild area. that's where the wild elephants can come out and then they can meet with these elephants in the night we've taken some of the dung of the elephants of the big adult female elephant and we've put it outside the fenced area and the reason for us doing that is when. the wild elephants are coming around they'll smell that and they'll smell a female elephant and they can tell and then they will be more interested to interact with these elephants and it's very important for these elephants that interacting with wild elephants so that one day when they're in the bush they've got their friends who are in the bush 'd. understand the laws busy of the wild so that's why we're doing that is for the wild elephants to get to know these elephants more and more.

with. elephants are an important symbol in the culture and the heritage of our country and it was one of the inspirations for why my mom started the zimbabwe elephant nursery. it was a opportunity to tell a conservation story that often isn't told something that is so that is positive that has that has far reaching implications and i think for myself as a zimbabwean it's really powerful to see how a project 'd. how far a project can reach and this is a symbol for a positive conservation story and it's about. 'd

'd elephants in zimbabwe are looked upon as a commodity at this point and that is a culture that i would like to try and change and i would like more people to try and understand what in zimbabwe how the animals. think that they sentence and they they just say majesty and that is one of the reasons why we have this necessity is to try and impart that sense of wonder amongst people in zimbabwe that they're not. just as. poor as ivory. you know when the elephants leave us they'll be very mixed emotions of course we we have cared for these elephants for nearly 5 years now and we care about them but at the same time ow ow mission

has always for them been for them to go back to the wild and so it will be mixed emotions for sure we will be very happy when they are living wild and free with wild compared to it's in the bush but we'll miss them of course. you know we will miss them of course but most of all we'll be happy for them that day off in the wild.

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leg. length. live. live live. live . live. live. oh. please. live. live live.

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