While watching a show recently, we learned that in Tanzania, few trees in the wild are knocked down by wind or the elements. It’s elephants crashing past them that cause most trees to tumble.
This adventure could be titled: Baby elephants do the darnedest things!
Last July, the Kenya Wildlife Service received a report from a community informer that a tiny elephant calf had been discovered down a well.
A local herdsman had been taking his herd to water when to his amazement he was confronted by a trapped elephant baby.
How long the calf had remained submerged in the well nobody knows as there was absolutely no sign of elephants remaining in the area.
Rescuers managed to remove the calf from the well but the baby was clearly battered and bruised from the ordeal with infected blood red eyes.
He was exhausted and after feeding, promptly collapsed and slept.
The blood results revealed he had a very serious bacterial infection, which came as little surprise given his ordeal. He had obviously ingested huge amounts of the putrid water while submerged in the well and was immediately placed on medication to combat the infection.
Rescuers named him Murit which means “where two rivers meet” in Samburu, which was appropriate given the location he was rescued from.
For six weeks after his rescue, Murit’s recovery was precarious as his infection proved persistent and required a couple of antibiotic courses to get topside of it.
But finally, his rescuers knew Murit was on the mend after he started wandering around the orphanage and began noticing girl elephants.
Photo credit: Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
