Tumaren

Category: Issues, Mammals | Date: Jul 23 2009 | By: tumaren

Tumaren, as our Elephant had become known, spent the night in Hassan’s room at our main Office/Camp. She had a very long night pacing and bellowing in a shriek-type call i can only compare to the noises Dynosaurs make in hollywood films.  Because she was under the same corrugated iron roof as everybody else it was a long night for all.  Our original plan was to keep her window open so that she could check on me in my bed that i had set just beneath it.  I had gone with this idea rather than sleeping inside the room because Tumaren was still quite feisty and she would have squashed me while i slept.  The problem though that i found just as i was saying goodnight to Tumaren through the window was made quite clear as she launched both front feet up onto the sill and used her head and trunk to drag the rest of her body up so that she was teetering on the sill, trying to escape completly.  Now i found myself in the strange position of wrestling an elephant alone at night in a window. I screamed for help.  With the assistance of Leshilling and Tation we were able to get Tumaren back into the room.  We then had to seal the window to prevent any further escapes.
After about 2 am Tumaren calmed a bit and while he kept pacing he stopped screaming.  I got up every few hours to look in on him and allow him to smell me and be reassured.

In the morning we made a plan with some Kenya Wildlife Service representives to inspect Tumaren’s mum and get the go-ahead to send Tumaren to the orphanage in Nairobi.  Mr. Dixon Too, Senior Warden for Laikipia and Senior Elephant Programme Co-ordinator Mr. Moses Litoroh.
After having a look at Tumaren’s mother they concluded, as we did the day before, that she should be put down.  Afterward, It was a releif to know that she was no longer in pain and it was also good that we had removed Tumaren the night before so that she was not present at such a horrible moment.

As soon as we we able to, we called The Sheldrick Trust to notify them that Tumaren was ready for pick up.  When back at the office we entered Tumaren’s room to calm her a bit before moving her.  She was drinking well and even eating soft grasses that we picked for her.

After tying her legs, placing a blanket on her head and wetting down her skin a bit we drove Tumaren on her side to the Kimanjo Airstrip.  From there she was picked up by a Boskovitch Airways Flight and brought successfully to the Orphanage.

We will keep you all up on Tumaren’s news as she fits in with the other orpahns.  We are told to expect that she will loose some condition in the next week as she deals with the stress but that she should begin to regain condition after that period.  Good Luck Tumaren!

Tags: African Elephant, Elephant, Elephant Disease, Wildlife Disease