The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust was alerted midday on the 20th of December that a one year old elephant was reported abandoned at Lumo Wildlife Conservancy. A vehicle was quickly dispatched to find two keepers – Abdi and Julius to join the rescue team, meanwhile back at the stockades milk and rehydration liquids were prepared. By 1pm the Tsavo Field Unit and the Trust’s Voi pickup loaded with the Keepers and milk were on the way to The Lumo Wildlife Conservancy. The Ziwani de-snaring unit was also contacted to help assist with the rescue.
The following morning when the older orphans were let out of their night stockades they appeared most reluctant to leave the new orphaned calf that had been named Lumo after the area she was rescued. Edie kept on returning and refused to abandon the baby. It was not long before things appeared not quite right and all of a sudden Lumo collapsed to the ground, shivering. Very quickly she lapsed into a coma at around 8am. By 10am her breathing had become extremely labored and despite our best efforts we were unable to save her. Very sadly Lumo’s young life slipped away and she died just 24 hours after being rescued.
At a point in time, when the country is gripped by a devastating drought, particularly severe in the Northern part of Kenya, it seemed ironic that a 4 month old elephant orphan be brought in, having been named “Yiari” by the community that saved him in an extremely arid area of the country, for Yiari means “Green Pastures” in the Samburu language.