She is an Imenti Forest Elephant, and arrived only days old, with a moist umbilical cord, soft black hair on her skin and a tiny short trunk. Being so young, she really had no comprehension yet, other than the fact she needed food and someone bigger to follow and be with.

She was found in a swamp near the all but gone Imenti Forest, all alone, on the morning of 18th September 2002, the rest of the herd having fled, no doubt due to human disturbance. It is likely that her mother was disturbed during childbirth because she was miniscule on arrival with a moist umbilical cord still intact. We named her "Wendi", which in the Meru tribal dialect means "Hope" and we have named her thus, hoping that CITES makes the decision to hold the ban on the sale of Ivory, which will bring "hope" for the survival of elephants "hope" that the Imenti elephants will one day have a safe corridor to the forests of Mount Kenya and meet up with lost friends from whom they are now isolated by human settlement, and "hope" that the K.W.S. Warden of Meru, who was responsible for such a very efficient rescue, has a career full of "hope" within the Kenya Wildlife Service and above all, "hope" that little "HOPE" will survive.

Rearing a newborn elephant always presents a challenge, and in Wendi’s case an even greater challenge than most because we feel she never had her mother’s colostrum. One ear was bent down the middle, like a folded piece of parchment, and it is possible the little elephant must have been lying like this in the womb. Little "Wendi" was given powdered Colostrum in her first bottles of milk, just in case she had not had the benefit of her mother's first milk containing all the vital antibodies she needed for survival in a harsh world.

Too young to understand the loss of her elephant mother, she faced the future without the psychological trauma that troubles calves orphaned older. A beautiful elephant that can be assured of love and tender loving care from her adopted human family.