The following is information on the Elephant Orphan named: DABASSA  (foster now)

Latest Updates on DABASSA:

• 12/28/2011 - Journey Back to the Wild; Layoni, Rombo and Dabassa move to Voi

View to Location map for DABASSA (opens a new window)

Most Recent Keeper's Diary Entry: (view all the latest entries for DABASSA)

4/30/2013 - This morning Tassia and Rombo had a vigorous Pushing Match which prompted Mzima to engage Taveta walking over to him with his trunk curled under his chin. Mzima immediately accepted the challenge. Later Lesanju led the Orphans out at usual. At around 9.45 a.m. Emily’s group turned up to join the orphans out in the field, all browsing together until it was the mudbath hour when the Ex Orphans chose to head to the Middle Wallow while the Youngsters went to the big waterhole as usual. There the babies were enjoying themselves when Emily’s gang turned up again, heading first to the drinking bins, which had been emptied by the Junior group. Dabassa rushed up to greet them and escorted them to the waterhole. When Lesanju saw the Seniors approaching, she and some of the Juniors vacated the pool in a hurry, leaving it free for the bigger elephants but Mzima, Dabassa and Kivuko decided to remain behind and play with the older Ex Orphans. Rombo attempted a Pushing Match with Mweya in the pool, but when he saw her long sharp tusks, he thought better of it and turned away, though not before Mweya gave him a prod with her tusks. He ran away bellowing and as soon as Mzima saw this, he moved in to tackle Mweya backed up by Rombo who came in on the side of his friend. Everyone had a lot of fun.

Morani came late to the waterhole with a wild friend, just as the others were about to leave. Icholta kicked all the drinking bins around, displaying frustration at finding them emptied.

The Two Latest Photos of DABASSA: (view gallery of pictures for DABASSA)

The orphans giving affection to the new arrival photo taken on 8/17/2011	Mutara comforting the newcomer photo taken on 8/16/2011

ORPHAN PROFILE FOR: DABASSA (foster now)

Zoom / Enlarge On the 8th of August the Galana Ranch staff first noticed a young elephant calf amongst a herd of adult bulls, and as this is not normal they decided to monitor the calf closely over the coming days. On the 12th of August the calf was sighted again by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Field Operations Officer and pilot, Richard Moller, while on an Aerial Patrol. By this stage the calf had lost considerable condition and it was clear that without his mother he would die, because as a milk dependent calf he would not survive on his own in a wild situation, particularly as Galana Ranch right now is parched dry. Richard reported his sighting to the KWS authorities and our Voi elephant Keepers who arrived on the scene around 3:30pm. The calf is estimated to be approximately 20 months old. The Voi Keepers did not waste any time, but the rescue was challenging because of the presence of his 4 big bull elephant guardians, and being late in the day they were mindful that it would take time too for the rescue plane to arrive from Nairobi, and all this needed to be acheived before sunset. The bulls were protective of him, so the rescue team had to be careful and very strategic in planning their capture. While they used the vehicle to sheild them they were able to captured the baby, who surprisingly did not put up too much of a fight, clearly weakened by days without milk. Back in Nairobi the Keepers involved in the rescue were ready to go soon after the call came in at 4.00pm and were airborne shortly afterwards, arriving at Galana Ranch's airstrip about 1 hour 30 minutes later.          The calf was safely loaded onto the plane with the cooperation of many Ranch hands and arrived back in Nairobi well after dark, around 7pm.    We called him Dabassa, after the famous Dabassa herd of old that were resident in that region during the 70's and early 80's. Once untied and safely in the taming stockade he seemed to gather renewed strength and proceeded to give the Keepers a serious run around.    So much so that getting a milk bottle down him proved impossible, so he only took water throughout the night. The next day however, although he remained agressive, he soon learnt about the milk and from that moment onwards could not seem to get enough of it. Of course, like so many before him, he was riddled in parasites, so after a couple of days in the stockade we dewormed him and everyday throughout the day he was exposed to the nursery elephants and this coupled with Mishak's calming ways he began to settle. Mutura has been particularly enamoured with Dabassa, and showered him with warmth and affection which have instilled in him a real sense of belonging.    It will not be too long before Dabassa will have the opportunity of returning to Tsavo as being as old as he is he will head down to Ithumba in the not too distant future to join the other older keeper dependent elephant orphans there, and be exposed once again to big wild bulls who we are sure will always hold a very special place in his heart, for the protection he received from the Galana bulls most surely saved him from falling prey to Tsavo's lions.

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