Track- 4
Narrator:
It’s morning in Kenya, at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Little elephants and their human keepers are waking up to a beautiful African morning.
This is little Shimba. He came to the nursery when he was only six weeks old.
And this is ten-month old Shula. Shula became an orphan when her mother was killed by poachers.
Many of the orphans here had mothers killed by poachers. And without their mothers, these baby elephants would not have survived in the wild. In total, the orphanage has saved over 100 young elephants. But taking care of baby elephants is not easy. It took the Trust twenty years to find the right food and care to keep the baby elephants alive. Elephants cannot drink cow’s milk, so they must drink a special kind of milk. Every baby elephant needs to drink more than 10 liters of this special milk every 24 hours. That’s a lot of milk. When they get older, they must drink even more milk to stay healthy. They can now also eat some dried coconut and oatmeal.
Growing elephants don’t just need a lot of food, they also need a lot of love. The keepers stay close to their elephants 24 hours a day. Just as a mother elephant would stay close to her children. With their human parents nearby, and a soft blanket to rest against, the babies feel safe and warm.
And then it’s playtime! Like human children, young elephants love to play.
Edwin Lucichi, a keeper, says: They behave like human babies. What you tell them not to do is what they want to do. And where you want them not to go is where they want to go.
There are 51 keepers here in all. Their job is to care for the elephants until they are ready to go back into the wild. Sometimes this can take up to ten years. But it is possible. The Trust has seen elephants from the orphanage re-enter the wild and start families of their own.
For one hour every day, the Trust lets in tourists and locals who want to see the elephants. It’s a chance to show people what they’re doing and teach people how important it is to protect the elephants.
In just thirty years, over two and a half million elephants have died, many killed by poachers. And their habitats have been destroyed by human activity. But here at the Trust, the orphans are all safe, for now.
As the sun sets, the baby elephants are put to bed by their keepers who will stay close by all night in case the babies need them. And with their help, the Trust hopes these animals will have a bright future under the African sky.
[释义]小象喜欢玩耍。
