At about 11 am during the morning of the 21 st February 2012, Mr. Piers Winkworth of the Offbeat Safaris Tented Camp in Meru National Park noticed a lone young elephant calf, who appeared to have a broken leg. The Camp Guides said that they had seen this orphaned elephant over the past few days, and apparently KWS Rangers had received a report about it some 3 weeks ago, but subsequently had been unable to trace it.
To keep her company Orwa would stay behind and act as her playmate and companion. They bonded over those few days so much so that Orwa had to be moved next door to Murera’s stockade as she would get stressed in the evening when he left for his quarter.
Within a week, her wounds started healing well and she was able to put a little more weight on her injured hind leg. After 2 weeks she was able to join the orphan herd closeby which had obvious positive effect on her wellbeing and as a result her healing process. Although the ligament damage from the fall will take several months to fully heal she is so far doing very well and showing signs of improvement everyday.
We are enormously grateful to Mr. Piers Winkworth who went to a great deal of trouble to ensure the rescue of little Murera and to the Meru Park Rangers who assisted so professionally with her capture. We all hope and pray that in the fullness of time, Murera will live to forget all the pain and suffering to which she has been subjected, and will come to understand that not all humans are “bad”!