The 17th October, 2010 brought yet another Rescue alert, the third in just over a week, this time from Namunyak Conservancy in Northern Kenya, where a one week old elephant baby had been retrieved from a shallow well by Samburu elders of the area. The fate of the mother is not known for sure, but it is whispered that she could have been yet another victim of poaching in the area where Chinese Road Construction workers are operating, and apparently encouraging the poaching of elephants for ivory. 

Very fortunately, the Samburu elders who retrieved and rescued the calf were already aware from previous elephant rescues that the little elephant must not be fed cows’ milk, but only given water until the Rescue team arrived with the correct milk formula for an infant elephant. The Namunyak Conservancy officials based at Wamba town, alerted the KWS officials and immediately sent a vehicle to collect the tiny calf and take it to the nearby Airfield to await the arrival of the Rescue plane.

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Rescue team, armed with all the usual paraphernalia, and the milk, left Wilson airport at 2.30 p.m. and after a one hour flight landed at the Airfield where the one week old infant elephant awaited them, standing trustingly beside his Samburu Rescuers and the Rangers. Having been fed Electrolytes to counteract dehydration followed by some formula milk, and given its first prophylactic antibiotic injection, the baby elephant was strapped onto the Rescue mattress, loaded onto the plane and flown to Nairobi, arriving at the Nursery in the late evening. It was a baby girl, and has been named Wasin after the nearby massif known locally as Ol Donyo Wasin, Wasin being the local term for the trees that are found growing on the summit. She arrive a bit wobbly, and with an umbilicus that needed some attention, the little elephant was still strong, taking her milk, and so far is doing well. 

The Samburu Elders who rescued the elephant were named Lengiwa, Lititia and Lerno. The Namunyak Trust Manager is Loila Letinena who was alerted by Kalmnon Leogura, the Radio Operator at Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy Trust. KWS Rangers who accompanied the elephant to the Airfield were Jestin Lesirite, Lebengin Leshongoro, Sgt. Lekapina and Cpl. Silas Rotich. The Driver of the vehicle was Mark Lesimirdan, and the Trust’s Rescue Team was comprised of Keepers Abdi, Hassan and Asman.