Pesi

Sadly Pesi passed away on November 13th, 2009. He shall forever remain in our hearts

About Pesi

  • Gender

    Male

  • Rescued date

    18 August 2009

  • Rescue location

    Laikipia, Rumuruti Ranch

  • Date of birth (estimate)

    15 August 2009

  • Reason orphaned

    Unknown

  • Age at rescue

    0 weeks old (approx)

  • Date of passing

    13 November 2009

Pesi's rescue

At 6 a.m. during the morning of the 18th August 2009, community folk from Rumuruti spotted a tiny baby elephant stuck in the mud in a swampy area of the drying Pesi river. There were no other elephants in the area, so the community alerted the Kenyan Wildlife Service who came to rescue the tiny newborn calf at 7 a.m. and alerted the Trust that yet another Rescue was required.

The calf was back in the Nairobi Nursery by noon, a tiny newborn baby bull, whose umbilicus was still moist and whose ears were petal pink and soft, indicative that he was brand new and might not have even suckled his elephant mother to benefit from her first colustrum milk which imparts the antibodies a baby needs to trigger the immune system for survival. 

Very fortunately, we still had a stock of frozen Plasma spun from the blood of a healthy Mara Bull elephant. This was infused into the calf's ear vein, the vital life support a newborn elephant needs for even a chance of survival. He is an enchanting and very endearing miniature who captures the hearts of all who meet him. Shaded by an umbrella to protect his baby ears and body from sunburn, and still fed on demand, he spends his days with his Keepers and some of the other babies near the Elephant Stables, still too young and fragile to be with all the others. His rescue brings the number in the Nairobi Nursery to 25, now that Tassia and Taveta have been sent to join Lesanju's group at the Voi Rehabilitation Centre to free up Nursery space for others that are bound to need help during this extremely challenging year. 

The calf was back in the Nairobi Nursery by noon, a tiny newborn baby bull, whose umbilicus was still moist and whose ears were petal pink and soft, indicative that he was brand new and might not have even suckled his elephant mother to benefit from her first colustrum milk which imparts the antibodies a baby needs to trigger the immune system for survival. 

Pesi's Archival Updates

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Keepers Diaries

View diary updates from across all our orphan units as written by the Keepers

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Remembering Pesi and Sala

Death of Pesi The 13th November, 2009 was another extremely sad day in our Nairobi Infant Elephant Nursery, for precious little Pesi died very unexpectedly

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Pesi's Archival Photos

Access the most recent photos featuring Pesi

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