There are many kind-hearted people who take in rescued animals. If you’re looking for a new pet, there’s nothing better than adopting a stray dog or orphaned kitten in need of a loving home.
But what about elephants? Needless to say, they are more challenging to care for, but due to the ivory trade leaving many young elephants motherless, they need help to survive.
Fortunately, one woman dedicated her life to caring for these young elephants, providing them with the nurturing care of a mother and helping to rehabilitate them back into the wild.
Dame Daphne Sheldrick was born in 1934 in Kenya, then part of the British Empire, and knew she wanted to work with animals since visiting her father at the nature camp to which he was assigned.
As a young woman, Daphne began caring for orphaned animals.
“The moment I saw the setting of the camp, I thought: I would like to live here, among the animals under the blue sky,” she wrote in her autobiography, according to the New York Times.
She lived that dream. She married her husband David Sheldrick, and the couple served as the wardens of Tsavo National Park for over 20 years, making it Kenya’s “largest and most famous national park.”
During this time, they rehabilitated many animals and also helped combat a rapidly growing poaching problem.
David passed away in 1977. Daphne wanted to do something to honor her late husband… so she founded the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi.
The foundation focuses on rehabilitating elephants, as well as animals like rhinos. It serves as a kind of orphanage for baby elephants whose mothers were killed, largely due to poachers hunting them for their ivory tusks.
Baby elephants cannot survive on their own for more than a few days. They rely on their mothers to teach them crucial survival skills. And, as Daphne Sheldrick told 60 Minutes, they can die from trauma and heartbreak when they witness their mothers being killed – elephants never forget.
But at the Sheldrick Trust, staff members take on the role of the mother by feeding and bathing the elephants, teaching them survival skills their parents would normally impart, and even playing games. Daphne also helped develop a special diet and milk formula for elephants to provide them with the nutrition they need for proper development.
The goal is to bring them to a place where they can be rehabilitated into the wild and released into their natural habitat.
Daphne oversaw the foundation for decades and formed a close bond with the elephants. They lined up to greet her, as if they knew how much effort she had put in to help them throughout her life.
“Their enormous capacity to care is, I think, perhaps the most amazing thing about them,” Daphne told 60 Minutes. “They have all the best qualities of us humans and not many of the bad.”
In 2006, Daphne Sheldrick was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for her lifelong efforts in conservation.
Daphne passed away in April 2018, but her foundation continues to ensure that these magnificent animals receive the care they need and that the legacy of Sheldrick and her husband lives on for generations.
Let’s thank Daphne Sheldrick for all the incredible work she did during her life and bring attention to her organization!
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