Please introduce yourself and tell us briefly about the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
My name is Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick. I've just been knighted by the British queen. I'm quite proud of that. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust was established in memory of my late husband, who died in 1977 when I was aged just 42. Since then we've worked with conservation in Kenya to raise 75 infant orphaned elephants, and we've been able to help the Kenya Wildlife Service in many areas.

How did you first become involved with raising orphaned elephants?
Well, I was sort of born into this job. I was born in Kenya, and all our holidays were spent under camp and on safari at a time when wild animals were everywhere. I married into the system. My brother was the first warden of the first park, which is Nairobi National Park. This is where I met my husband. We lived for 30 years in the Tsavo National Park, which is the size of Michigan state. And there, the orphaned elephants started coming in. Not just elephants, many other species as well, but the elephants provided the greatest challenge.

How does the Trust respond when it learns of an orphaned elephant?
Well, right now we're actually in the middle of an orphan rescue. There's been an alert in Amboseli National Park: a little orphan of about 18 months old, bearing in mind that no elephant can live without milk under 2 years of age. This calf is just over 1. So, we've had to charter a plane. All the keepers have gone down there with effects to dart this elephant, because it's quite large. (They) then load it onto the plane, put it on a drift as soon as it's loaded on the plane — because obviously it's going to be in a very weakened condition — and then it's flown here to the nursery. As I speak, it's arriving at the back door.

What happens when an elephant calf arrives at the nursery?
At the orphaned elephant nursery here in Nairobi National Park, the first thing we have to do is calm the baby down and to replace the elephant family with a human family of keepers, who are going to be with that baby day and night for the next two years of life, and who will be feeding it every three hours, day and night. And who will have to extend a lot of tender loving care to calm that baby down and convince it and persuade it to actually want to live. Because little elephants just want to die when they've lost their family. They're highly bonded to their family.

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