The rescue of Mutara

The 26th July brought not only the rescue of 2 and a half month old Tano from Loisaba Ranch, but also another newborn, who was seen all alone at 2pm on the road between Rumuruti town in Laikipia and the ADC ranch known as Mutara

The 26th July brought not only the rescue of 2 and a half month old Tano from Loisaba Ranch, but also another newborn, who was seen all alone at 2pm on the road between Rumuruti town in Laikipia and the ADC ranch known as Mutara. Mutara called the Kenyan Wildlife Service, and since it was by then too late to initiate a rescue (added to the fact that all our phone land lines were out of action) the ADC Ranch personally alerted the Ol Pejeta Conservancy requesting them to care for the calf for the night. And so it was, that on the 27th July 2009, the newborn baby female calf who has been named Mutara, after the ADC station that saved her from certain death, came to us flown in this time by East African Air Charters, in a small Cessna 206 aircraft. 

The umbilicus was still attached so this calf may not have had the mother's first Colostrum milk to trigger her immune system.   She was therefore given Elephant plasma (frozen in our deep freezer) through a saline drip directly into an ear vein. 

Although the reason for her being orphaned is not definitely known, she is likely to also be a poaching victim.  Her arrival brought the number of Nursery inmates to 24.