THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE
TRUST
FOSTERING PROGRAM
| US$ 50 per year is the minimum fostering fee |
 |
"Please help us help an orphaned elephant
by fostering one of the orphans
directly through our website
as a gift of life"
Daphne Sheldrick
| see the
list of orphans available for fostering |
what you receive as a foster parent |
detailed orphan profiles |
When a tiny new-born elephant is orphaned, it is often because its mother and family have been killed to serve the brutal ivory trade. For an elephant, family is all important; a calf’s very existence depends upon its mother's milk for the first two years of life.
In Kenya an Elephant Nursery exists nestled within Nairobi National Park under the auspices of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which is overseen by Dr Dame Daphne Sheldrick, whose elephant experience spans a lifetime. This pioneering organisation, which works in partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service offers hope for any orphaned elephant fortunate enough to be found alive.
It took Daphne Sheldrick nearly three decades of trial and error to perfect the milk formula and complex husbandry necessary to rear an orphaned infant African elephant yet today, with support from many caring people world-wide, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is proud to have saved over 150 orphaned infant calves, which would otherwise have perished. More importantly, every one of these orphans can look forward to a quality of life in wild terms, living free in Tsavo East National Park protected by their new extended orphaned family and friends amongst the wild herds.
For more information in understanding our work, please see
Understanding
the Orphan's Project.
None of this would have been possible without help
of many people worldwide, for the rearing an infant elephant is an
expensive and long-term commitment during the time it is
dependent upon milk and a team of trained carers who represent the
lost elephant family and are there for the little elephant until
such time as it is comfortable amongst the wild herds and chooses
to become independent. The time involved depends entirely upon the
personality of each individual and also upon how well the elephant
can recall its elephant family, but all the orphans reared by The
David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust are "elephants" again and
integrated into the wild community by the age of ten, though
always in their large elephant hearts will be a corner for the
specific humans who were their family in infancy.
The Baby Elephant Foster
Parent Programme,
Via email, your gift will include:
We
have made our fostering program digital, thereby keeping admin
costs down. Postage around the world is a cumbersome
administrative expense that we are now able to avoid through the
Internet. Any queries about the fostering program can be directed
to
info@sheldrickwildlifetrust.org
 |
Choose an elephant orphan whose story
touches
your heart and whose name appeals to you. |
| NAMING THE ORPHANS |
|
 The Trust likes to name its orphaned elephants in a
way that can identify them with their origin. The orphans come from
all corners of Kenya and from many different elephant populations, so
they are usually given place or ethnic tribal names. |
Or, Select an Orphan from the full list below:
For more information on each orphan please see the
detailed orphan profiles section.
