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An extraordinary story from Ithumba Head Keeper Benjamin🔊 Several years ago, this bull appeared and calmly walked into a stockade. Such behaviour is highly unusual for a wild elephant — so Benjamin and the team went to investigate: They found he had been struck in the ankle by an... arrow. Once he saw his message for help had been received, the bull walked back out of the stockade and waited. We mobilised the SWT/KWS Tsavo Vet Unit, who treated his injury. Joint wounds can have lethal implications, so this intervention very likely saved his life. Despite being wild from birth and wounded by human hands, he understood we offered a place of sanctuary in the landscape - likely communicated to him by our ex-orphans and other elephants we have treated over the years. The bull has returned from time to time ever since — as he did at the weekend — just checking in and saying hello to those who came to his aid. Read more:show more

Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

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78,659 views • 1 year ago •via X (Twitter)

Health & Wellness Animals

Anya Rossi• Live Now

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10 Comments

Wildlife Lover1 year ago

Amazing. Just like all you do—amazing. Good health and best wishes to Benjamin, this bull elephant and to the entire team at Sheldrick.

Hedgehog Cabin1 year ago

How absolutely wonderful, clever boy!🥰 And what a fabulous charity Sheldrick Trust is, to preserve and protect these gentle animals. Thank you for this heartwarming story.💕

Susan Wilby1 year ago

Where would these elephants be without you 😢

BonnieLynn Marie 🍀🎩🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿1 year ago

We are so Blessed to have such caring people in this life, thank you for all you do. 🙏

Michelle Silverman1 year ago

Truly amazing! All the elephants know that @SheldrickTrust is a safe haven for them, including the wild ones.

Florida Public Affairs Consultants1 year ago

This is truly amazing. We don’t give animals enough credit for their intelligence.

Lori Kohn1 year ago

So, so heartwarming! Thanks for all that you do!!!

Billsdotter1 year ago

Your help for these beautiful elephants is, I think, part of their cultural understanding of where they live and your part in their survival. Thank you.❤️

XNavn1 year ago

So incredible 🥰

Ungov_pl1 year ago

Wspaniała historia....

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Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

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PROTECT ALL WILDLIFE

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Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

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It was the community that found Maktao first. Teams mobilised in the hope they'd intercept the lone young calf before he succumbed to predators or human-wildlife conflict. They got lucky. Nine years on from his rescue, Maktao is a strapping young male living wild in the Kibwezi Forest – a bull who, we hope, might eventually sire calves of his own. That journey from vulnerable baby to stately bull took many many milk feeds, Keepers sleeping beside him, and years of reintegration at our Umani Springs Unit. Now he disappears into the forest for a week at a time, returning to his human family on his own terms. Today is his rescue-versary. Celebrate with us by offering your pearls of wisdom for living a fulfilled life in the comments.

Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

12,735 views • 2 months ago

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Earlier this year, a speared tusker took us on a true Tsavo odyssey: it took a month and a hundred kilometres of tracking to find him, plus the coordinated efforts of multiple SWT teams, in order to treat him. In pursuit of alleviating wildlife suffering, our teams do not give up! The initial report came in late at night. Our pilot took off at first light to locate him, but he had evaporated into the wilderness. For the next two weeks, we extensively patrolled the area, but he was nowhere to be found – no small feat for huge elephant. We had a breakthrough a month later when another SWT/KWS Anti-Poaching Team spotted a bull with the same injury. Comparing photos of the two, we knew it had to be the same elephant. Incredibly, he had walked more than 95 kilometres (60 miles) from the initial sighting. Again, it was late in the evening, so we organised a treatment for the following morning. From there, we left nothing to chance. The SWT/KWS Mobile Vet Unit mobilised to the scene – and not a moment too soon. The wound was serious – more than 18 inches deep and dangerously infected. Watch the successful treatment unfold, one of 3,918 elephant cases our SWT/KWS Veterinary Units have attended thanks to donations, which make life-saving interventions like this possible. (Catch a full write up of the operation here: )

Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

412,971 views • 10 months ago