Now living wild, though she continues to visit us regularly
Current age
9 years old
Gender
Female
Rescued date
17 September 2017
Rescue location
Tsavo Ecosystem, Tsavo East NP
Date of birth (estimate)
15 September 2015
Reason orphaned
Drought related
Age at rescue
2 years old (approx)
Current location
Living Wild
With the country largely gripped in drought, and a huge strain on all the resources throughout, there was no quick fix available to provide food for literally hundreds of wild elephants in an area the size of Israel. We received many drought victims last year who came into our care, young calves found more often than not already in a state of collapse as a result of starvation. Tahri, named after the area she was first located along the Voi River circuit of Tsavo East National Park, was another drought victim, but thankfully was sighted in the nick of time.
>On the 17th September 2017, Park visitors first came across her alone. She had most likely been abandoned, because she no longer had the strength to continue with the herd in search of food, and was left to die. The matriarchs in these situations are forced to make incredibly tough decisions as they must look after the interests of the whole herd. Thankfully everyone involved in saving Tahri responded rapidly and swift decisions were made because in her case, every hour mattered. The visitors who sighted this lone, emaciated baby of approximately two years reported the matter to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) headquarters, who turn immediately contacted the SWT Voi Keepers and SWT/KWS Mobile Veterinary Unit, requesting that they rush to the scene and rescue the calf. The little female was not able to put up much fight and was restrained easily and loaded into the vehicle on hand to be transported back to the Voi Stockades. She was then placed in a taming stockade at the SWT Voi Reintegration Unit, the first of the SWT facilities built by David Sheldrick back in the late forties and early 1950’s. Angela made the decision not to bring the calf up to the Nairobi Nursery given her age, her general condition, and the fact that she had been rescued just 20 km from the Voi Reintegration Unit.
With the country largely gripped in drought, and a huge strain on all the resources throughout, there was no quick fix available to provide food for literally hundreds of wild elephants in an area the size of Israel. We received many drought victims last year who came into our care, young calves found more often than not already in a state of collapse as a result of starvation. Tahri, named after the area she was first located along the Voi River circuit of Tsavo East National Park, was another drought victim, but thankfully was sighted in the nick of time.
View diary updates from across all our orphan units as written by the Keepers
Voi is a spectacularly open part of Tsavo, vast plains scattered with Melia Volkensaii trees stretch as far as the eye can see. Up until last month, these plains were a telltale shade of beige: The rains of April and May were rather lackluster, leaving huge swathes of the park dry for much of the year. This had begun to create challenging conditions for wildlife, and many elephants left the boundaries of Tsavo for the large ranches abutting the park in search of adequate food and browse. So, when the rains broke early this year, in October, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.
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