Rescue, rehabilitate and release orphaned elephants back into the wild.
Supporting since 2010
Location
Kafue National Park, Zambia
Support started
2010
Species
African Elephant
Mission
The Elephant Orphanage Project (EOP) is working to rescue, rehabilitate and release elephants that have been orphaned as a direct result of poaching.
Donations:
Annual donation towards the costs for veterinary care and food for the elephants and to support the wage of one of the elephant caregivers. Funds enable the day-to-day care of the orphans, assist in the rescues of new orphaned calves, and promote the well-being of newly rescued calves, who are extremely vulnerable.
2024 – 2025:
£10,000 donated this year.
Background
The Elephant Orphanage Project was established in Zambia in 2007 with the aim to rescue, rehabilitate and release orphaned elephants back into the wild. The EOP is the only programme of its kind in Zambia.
The Elephant Orphanage Project has developed two facilities to provide the specific care requirements for the elephant orphans it receives. EOP offers a mobile rescue unit, which aims to respond to orphan alerts within 12 hours of contact and transport the calves to the EOP Lilayi Elephant Nursery (LEN) where these fragile elephants are cared for around the clock. A team of locally employed, highly trained keepers care for them and watch over them constantly – whether out during their daily walks or sitting close by their stables at night. Together with their new ‘siblings’ and keepers, these young elephants learn to overcome the tragic loss of their natal family, as they browse, play and bath together within a natural environment. As soon as the calves can be weaned from milk, they are moved to the Kafue National Park to join other older orphaned elephants at EOP Kafue Release Facility (KRF) where they become more independent of human support and spend most of their time browsing freely in the National Park.
The facility backs onto the ancient Ngoma Teak Forest where there is a significant local elephant population, which maximises the opportunity for the orphans to eventually reintegrate with fellow elephants back in the wild. Over time, the orphans become more independent of the facility and younger herd and will start to live further away, demonstrating their interest and ability to live back in the wild where they belong.
Achievements and Objectives
At the end of 2023, a total of 28 orphans were under the Elephant Orphanage Project’s care or monitoring, spanning the six stages of release: 6 elephants in Stage 1 in rehabilitation at the Lilayi Elephant Nursery; 10 elephants in Stage 3 at the Kafue Release Facility in the protective boma overnight; 6 elephants at Stage 5 spending nights outside the boma and spending less than 50% of their time with the orphan herd and 6 elephants living full time in the wild.
The ultimate aim is to continue to facilitate the release of the elephants back into the wild. Post-release they will continue to be studied and observed to determine their ability to integrate within wild elephant society.
