Injured Elephant Walks Right Up To Safari Lodge In Zimbabwe Asking For Help [Video]
From the archive: published Jun 2, 2016, 10 years ago. Details may have changed since.
Elephants aren’t known for wandering up to a human habitation and knocking on the door, so when Ben the injured elephant visited the Bumi Hills Safari Lodge, it had to be for a good reason, and it turned out to be a cry for help.
Ben thoroughly surprised staff working at the Bumi Hills Safari Lodge in Kariba, Zimbabwe, over the past weekend when he walked right up to the building. Regrettably, he wasn’t just there to say hello — there was a serious reason for his presence.
Nick Milne, the manager of the safari lodge, realized there was something wrong with the bull elephant. He noticed the 30-year-old elephant was limping and appeared to be severely wounded. However, the in-house vet had already gone for the weekend.
Not to be outdone, another vet volunteered to help and flew 200 miles from the capital, Harare, to the safari lodge to help Ben the elephant. In the six hours it took for the vet to arrive, Ben waited patiently close by, drinking water to refresh himself until help came.
When the vet arrived at the safari lodge, he and the workers tranquilized Ben and discovered a deep wound in his shoulder. They believe this was caused by a poacher’s bullet. However, they also found two bullet holes in one of his ears.
From this, the staff at the safari lodge and the vet realized the injured elephant had survived at least two attempts on his life by poachers. The vet was able to clean and disinfect Ben’s injuries, and he is currently healing at the safari lodge.
They also placed a tracking device on the elephant so they can monitor his improvement and whereabouts.
Somehow, Ben the injured elephant knew he could trust the humans at the Bumi Hills Safari Lodge to help him and they came up tops.
When the safari lodge posted the story on their Facebook page, readers were moved, with Liz Berry commenting, “Ah….. so sad that this cruelty has been inflicted on him but so glad that he found you – thank you for helping him… hope he recovers.”
Qing Koch commented, “I read the story again. Thank you for saving his life. I hope the poachers can found and put in jail for life!”
George Mapope wrote, “We need 12,000 cadres like you to ensure this amazing species doesn’t go into extinction!!”
The Bumi Hills Foundation was totally overwhelmed by the exposure and media support following Ben’s story, saying the story had been published by over 20 media houses around the world and was viewed on social media by more than 200,000 people.
They said fortunately for Ben, they were able to intervene in time to give the elephant a second chance, and all signs so far suggest that while there is a long road ahead to his recovery, he will most likely survive.
However, they noted that the life-saving treatment Ben received, along with the necessary follow up treatment the elephant will need in the near future, doesn’t come for free. They outlined the costs so far in U.S. dollars.
- Aircraft charter for Vet from Harare and back — $1,550
- Drugs and Medical Supplies — $350
- Use of VHF Collar and Receiver — $200
- Ongoing Monitoring and Follow Up — $50/day
With a total of almost $2,500 so far, and without knowing exactly what follow-up treatment Ben will need, this figure could easily double or triple in the coming weeks. The Bumi Hills Foundation runs as a non-profit organization and simply doesn’t have the funding available, which they say is heartbreaking.
The Bumi Hills Foundation is appealing to the public to help the injured elephant, saying if they could get just $5 from 1 percent of the people who have read Ben’s story on social media alone, they would be able to cover the costs of his treatment plus have funding left over to use towards the prevention of this kind of incident happening to any more of their wildlife.
The Bumi Hills Foundation has set up a crowdfunding campaign via Paynow for anyone that would like to help.
In related news on the Inquisitr: