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Quick Facts about SUNYEI

Gender	Female	Date of Birth	June 2003
Location Found	Ol Donyo Nyiro
Age on Arrival	10 Days Old
Comments on Place Found	Fell into a hole dug by tribesmen at Oldonyo Nyiro
Reason for being Orphaned	Man Made Cause for Separation

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Elephant rescues are always fraught for time is of the essence, and every minute of every hour can mean the difference between life and death. Communications are difficult when a tiny elephant is found miles from anywhere – this time having fallen into a hole in a Sand River not far from a remote Northern Kenyan town called Ol Donyo Nyiro in Laikipia District.

Sunyei is lifted off the pickup by one of his Samburu Warrior rescuers

She is happy to follow anyone as the plane is prepared for the return flight

Monday 9th June and a signal arrives from the Kenya Wildlife Service alerting us to the fact that a tiny elephant had been rescued by Samburu tribesmen the previous day having been found stuck in a deep hole in a sand lugga. Currently it was being held at the Police Post in Ol Donyo Nyiro town.

Already a day had past and the time in Nairobi is 1 p.m. It is important to establish (l) the exact location of this remote town and Police Post within the vastness of Laikipia District, (2) whether the calf is, in fact, still alive, before incurring the expense of mobilizing an Aircraft (3) that transport be sourced to bring the calf to the nearest airfield, having found out exactly where the nearest Airstrip is and (4) assuming that the calf is still in the land of the living, that it be given rehydration salts a.s.a.p. to counter death through dehydration and stress.

Edwin and Julius make sure she has a feed before the flight to Nairobi

Throughout the flight she nestles close to the Keepers

Trying to contact the remote Police Post via a crackly and broken radio signal was obviously proving a near impossibility, and the minutes were ticking by with no further news. So, thank heavens for mobile phones and Tom Silvester, the extremely ele-friendly Manager of Loisaba Ranch who knew exactly where Ol Donyo Nyiro town was and who told us that the nearest airfield was his own at Loisaba. Very kindly he offered his help and leaping into his vehicle, headed for the Police Post in question, a journey that would take at least 45 minutes there and 45 minutes back, driving on rutted dirt roads. We requested that he phone us with news of the elephant as soon as he got there.

At last light she is loaded onto the pickup for the drive from Wilson Airstrip to the drive to the nursery

Sunyei takes some rehydation salts from Edwin early the next morning.jpg

Meanwhile, back in Nairobi, rehydration fluids and milk was being prepared secured for the flight in the usual compartmentalized Beer Crate. Out came the usual rescue kit – the circular tarpaulin with handles attached all round, a blanket to keep the baby warm, a mattress on which to lay the calf in the plane, all the while praying that the calf was, indeed, small enough to forego sedation for the flight.

Finally news came from Tom Silvester. The calf was, indeed, still alive and quite strong, but obviously newborn, the umbilicus still attached. Now the plane could be given the green light to take off heading for Loisaba Airfield an hour away with very little time at their disposal in order to be back in Nairobi with its precious cargo in daylight!

Sunyei playing with her tyre and Keepers

At the remote Police Post Tom Silvester was encountering the usual bureaucratic red tape because the authorities needed official clearance from Nairobi to release the calf. Radio relays to K.W.S. managed to solve this problem. The tribesmen who had rescued the calf, were reluctant to see it go, because already it was “their” elephant, following them trustingly and nuzzling them with its baby trunk. Tom assured them that it would be in safe hands, and soon he was on his way, heading back to Loisaba Airfield. There he had just a 15 minute wait before the plane was circling overhead, which had taken off from Nairobi the moment we had positive news.

Meanwhile, Tom Silvester told us that the calf was a female, and not a bull, as we had previously been told. (A very common mistake). He suggested the name “Ntome”, the Samburu word an elephant calf. We mulled over this name, discussing it with our Samburu Keepers, because we already had “Ndume” from the Imenti Forest and “Natumi” from Nanyuki, as well as “Thoma” from Thomson’s Falls, names that were very like “Ntome”. We asked for the Samburu word for “Sand River” and were given “Sunyei” so we decided that the new baby should be called Sunyei.

It was 6.45 p.m. in the evening before little “Sunyei” arrived in the Nairobi Nursery.
She was given the usual antibiotic precautionary injection, hungrily downed 3 pints of milk and 3 pints of re-hydration, taking another 9 pints at intervals throughout the night, and in between whiles, sleeping quietly, too young to be subjected to the usual trauma that is part and parcel of losing a mother and family. Having well meaningly been given cow’s milk by her Samburu rescuers, we can anticipate difficulties with the tummy, but apart from that, she is not in bad shape, although quite lean, coming as she does from an elephant population constantly at risk and constantly on the move in an extremely arid part of the world.

US$ 50 per year is the minimum fostering fee

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The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust P.O. Box 15555 Nairobi Kenya