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The following is MWEIGA's
Orphan Profile.
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Quick Facts about
MWEIGA
| Gender |
Female |
Date of Birth |
October 1998 |
| Location Found |
Aberdares / Mweiga |
| Age on Arrival |
7 months old |
| Comments on Place Found |
Herd driven out of a settlement in Mweiga where she was left behind |
| Reason for being Orphaned |
Problem Animal Control |
A female calf born approx. November l998. Age on arrival approximately 7 months. Mweiga is a victim of "problem animal control" her family having wandered into human settlement near Mweiga, so she comes from the Aberdare forest population. The herd was driven out of settlement by thunder flashes at night but Mweiga was left behind. She was big for her age, estimated by the Vet who darted her for capture to be a year old, when in fact she was barely 7 months, and as such should have been a Nairobi Nursery candidate. Instead she was flown direct to Tsavo where she suffered from the heat, and severe psychological depression, missing her elephant family sorely. Daphne Sheldrick flew down to Tsavo and decided to separate the orphan group so that Emily and Aitong could remain near the Stockades with Mweiga, who needed 3 hourly milk feeds. From that moment on Mweiga enjoyed the privileged status of Emily's "special baby", a position she enjoyed until the arrival of Tsavo, who, being smaller, usurped this special place, plunging Aitong into a psychological depression for a few months. Were it not for the selfless devotion to Mweiga of both Emily and Aitong, we would probably have lost this calf, because in the beginning she lacked the will to live and has always been a little fragile, her legs showing signs of weakness. We suspect that this might be caused by mineral deficiency due to her forest background, where rainfall leaches nutrients vital for an elephant's large bones from the soil.
Mweiga is a delicate, but very sweet elephant, and has a sensitive disposition.
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