elephants at David Sheldrick Wildlife trust — Transcript

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1. 0:02welcome to the show everybody this is
2. 0:04National Geographic weekend I'm Boyd
3. 0:06Matson and I am in Kenya in Nairobi at
4. 0:09the David sheldrick Wildlife trust uh
5. 0:12with a group of friends 16 elephants and
6. 0:15of course their handlers who work with
7. 0:17them all the time okay so Edwin he wants
8. 0:20to shake hands yeah she's uh they're
9. 0:22trying to say hello coming in they take
10. 0:25in orphaned elephants raise them with
11. 0:28Keepers who stay with them all the time
12. 0:30until they're 2 or 3 years old they
13. 0:32spent two or 3 years here and then they
14. 0:34slowly reintroduce them into the wild in
15. 0:37a family group and it has been very
16. 0:41successful and now we're joined by Edwin
17. 0:44lucii who is a trainer here at the David
18. 0:46Shel Brook Wildlife trust you spend a
19. 0:48lot of time with these elephants yes I
20. 0:50do they get to know you yes they get to
21. 0:53know me and they get to know all the
22. 0:54keepers and that's why they they like us
23. 0:56there's an elephant right now who is
24. 0:58smelling me with its trunk yes yes this
25. 1:00elephant is called kbo kbo yes and do
26. 1:03you get so attached to the elephants
27. 1:05that the whole purpose of this is to
28. 1:07return them to the wild but do you
29. 1:09sometimes think I wish we could just
30. 1:10keep this one around well we do get
31. 1:12attached to them and we do love them
32. 1:14because they're very intelligent and
33. 1:15very good very good animals and when
34. 1:19they go back into the world we get to
35. 1:20miss them because we've been with them
36. 1:22for quite a long time and we love them
37. 1:24but we don't uh want them to stay with
38. 1:26us forever because we know the reason
39. 1:29for us risking them is because they are
40. 1:31orans and we need to set them free and
41. 1:33we need to let them have the natural
42. 1:35life so that is why we're very happy to
43. 1:37see them go back into the wild you're on
44. 1:39National Geographic weekend we're
45. 1:41talking with Edwin you're the head
46. 1:42trainer yes I'm the head keeper the head
47. 1:44train head keeper here of the elephants
48. 1:46and the whole goal is to uh take in
49. 1:48orphan abandoned elephants where the
50. 1:50parents might have been poached and then
51. 1:52return them to the wild yes yes these
52. 1:54elephants are here because of several
53. 1:56reasons uh some of them the mothers have
54. 1:58been porched mothers have been killed
55. 2:01and the tasks have been taken off from
56. 2:02them and some are here because uh
57. 2:05they've been separated from from from
58. 2:07the families because of human world
59. 2:09Conflict by people they want to fight
60. 2:11them they want to kill them or they
61. 2:13separate them because they found them in
62. 2:14the Farms some of these elephants are
63. 2:16here because they fall down Wells and
64. 2:18the mothers couldn't rescue them man
65. 2:20holes stuck in the mud drought station
66. 2:24and natural reasons all kinds of re and
67. 2:26how many elephants over the years of the
68. 2:27trust have you taken in over 100 30 have
69. 2:30completely gone back into the world and
70. 2:32we've got 16 still under our care six
71. 2:34new 16 new ones kbo has got her trunk
72. 2:38out of the cage where she spends the
73. 2:39night yes and it's on top she's trying
74. 2:41to take your hat off your head trying to
75. 2:43smell around and know who I am she's
76. 2:45trying to lift your hat off saying
77. 2:46you're in the Pres of a lady take your
78. 2:48hat
79. 2:50off we're here in Kenya and outside of
80. 2:54Nairobi where the David sric Wildlife
81. 2:56trust is headquartered taking in these
82. 2:58orphaned abandoned elephants
83. 3:00working with them two to 3 years and the
84. 3:02trainers they stay in here during the
85. 3:04day they're out roaming around in the
86. 3:05woods just like an elephant wood but for
87. 3:07their protection yes they're brought in
88. 3:09at night cuz these are all very young
89. 3:10yes and they're put in a small like a
90. 3:12stall that a horse would be in yes yes
91. 3:14and the trainer stays in or the keeper
92. 3:16stays in with them the Handler stays
93. 3:17with them yes the Handler stays in with
94. 3:19them because these elephants need to be
95. 3:20fed on every 3 hours 24/7 on milk so
96. 3:24they need somebody to wake up every 3
97. 3:26hours and feed them they need somebody
98. 3:28to cover them with blankets to keep them
99. 3:29warm because they get cold in the night
100. 3:32and and they're still babies if they're
101. 3:34out in the world with the mothers the
102. 3:35mothers will surround all the young ones
103. 3:37and they'll get heat from the mothers
104. 3:39and the rest of the family so since we
105. 3:41don't have a big heart to provide that
106. 3:43that's why we have the stables and we
107. 3:45need the keepers to cover them with
108. 3:46blankets to ensure that they are kept
109. 3:49warm and do they if you're watching
110. 3:51elephants in the wild when the young
111. 3:53one's ready to the nurse they'll just
112. 3:54come up and start pushing on the mom on
113. 3:56the breast and suckling so they come up
114. 3:58and push on the keeper yes if we like
115. 4:00sleeping and they come up and wake you
116. 4:02up they take off your blanket from you
117. 4:04they want to touch you want to do every
118. 4:06sort of thing on you so that you can
119. 4:08wake
120. 4:09up and uh you are the surrogate mom yes
121. 4:12we
122. 4:13are as young elephants often get
123. 4:16frightened by something yes and they
124. 4:17will go run right to their mom yes that
125. 4:19happen out here in the woods and they
126. 4:21come running that happens here in the N
127. 4:23when we are with them in the park and
128. 4:24something happens to come out they'll
129. 4:26all run towards the keepers because they
130. 4:28know the keepers are their protect us
131. 4:30the keepers are the mothers these are
132. 4:31the people who will protect them in case
133. 4:33of anything so they always run towards
134. 4:35us in case there's any danger or they
135. 4:37have might have seen something that they
136. 4:39don't like and they feel it's risky to
137. 4:42them so they know where the protection
138. 4:43is the protection is the keepers and if
139. 4:46this hadn't happened this trust hadn't
140. 4:48been set up these elephants taken
141. 4:50in the alternative in they would have
142. 4:53all died the alternative is that they
143. 4:55will all have died and the alternative
144. 4:57is the population of alant will be going
145. 4:59down every now and then and we'll end up
146. 5:01having no elephants in the long run and
147. 5:05you have a unique program here in that
148. 5:06the public can get involved in adopting
149. 5:08the elephants so for a small fee each
150. 5:11month you adopt an elephant you
151. 5:13contribute to its welfare and its care
152. 5:15and what do you get you get an update
153. 5:16can you go online and see pictures of
154. 5:18your elephant explain how that works
155. 5:19well just because these elephants need
156. 5:20to be fed on milk they need to be taken
157. 5:22care of by some people who are the
158. 5:24keepers and the keepers need to be paid
159. 5:25they need to be provided with medication
160. 5:27when they fall sick so that's why we
161. 5:29need some support to make sure that we
162. 5:31can raise these elephants so you can
163. 5:32adopt an elephant paying a minimum fee
164. 5:35of $50 a year and get give us your email
165. 5:39address and all your contacts so that we
166. 5:41can update you every month and tell you
167. 5:43how your baby's doing for a full year
168. 5:45only at $50 for $50 $50 a year then you
169. 5:49can adopt kbo and there may be several
170. 5:51people helping support it but you will
171. 5:52be one of the parents parents you'll be
172. 5:55one of the parents and because uh we say
173. 5:5750 so that we can have many people help
174. 6:00adopt the same elephant because it's
175. 6:02costing us roughly about $900 to raise
176. 6:05one elephant in a month so we need a lot
177. 6:07of people to adopt them so that we can
178. 6:09get the right amount to raise up these
179. 6:11babies it's a wonderful program and then
180. 6:14if you've adopted an elephant you have
181. 6:16an afternoon that the people can come in
182. 6:17and spend a little time see their
183. 6:19elephant in fact see all of the
184. 6:20elephants and uh stand up next to them
185. 6:22like I am now and actually Reach Out And
186. 6:24Touch the trunk yeah CU you need to have
187. 6:27extra time with your adopted baby that's
188. 6:28why we actually allowed this extra time
189. 6:31in the evening at 5: for people to come
190. 6:33and see the elephants in their Stables
191. 6:35the elephants having milk in their
192. 6:36Stables but the people don't go in but
193. 6:39they see what is happening and how the
194. 6:41elephants will go to bed and such like
195. 6:42things and if you come here you can see
196. 6:44what you're not seeing on the radio you
197. 6:46can see kbo try to take the hat off of
198. 6:48Edwin she just will not let it go yeah
199. 6:52she is curious with that trunk it's how
200. 6:53they smell it's how they pick up things
201. 6:56this is their hand they got two fingers
202. 6:58on the end of the trunk
203. 6:59and she will grab everything it's it's a
204. 7:01wonderful program thanks very much Ed
205. 7:04for sharing a little with us thank
206. 7:06you