Celebrating Mutaanzi David’s first birthday

Today is Mutaanzi David’s first birthday, and we are delighted to share with you this endearing video of his development over the past year.

Mutaanzi David has grown into a strong, confident little elephant, demonstrating positive growth behaviours that will one day help him thrive in the wild.

You can be part of Mutaanzi David’s journey back into the wild, alongside his mother, by adopting Chamilandu, today.

Chamilandu is the matriarch of the orphan elephant herd at Game Rangers International’s (GRI) Elephant Orphanage Project. She arrived at the Elephant Orphanage Project 11 years ago after her mother was killed by poachers.

The keepers are delighted to report that Chamilandu has become the caring and self-assured mother, they knew she would be, having nurtured all the new arrivals at the orphanage.

The Elephant Orphanage Project was established by David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) in Zambia to give orphan elephants, like Chamilandu, a second chance at life in the wild.

Mutaanzi David’s birth

Last year, Chamilandu returned to the safety of the release facility, having been a partly free-roaming elephant in Kafue National Park, to give birth. It was heart-warming for her keepers to know that the boma is where she felt safest during this vulnerable time. Without the support structure and safety of a wild elephant herd, her new calf would have been vulnerable to lions.

The arrival of a calf to an orphaned elephant is a significant milestone for conservation efforts as Chamilandu was impregnated by a wild bull, coincidentally on the exact day of David Shepherd’s death in September 2017.

Chamilandu and her calf have remained at the release facility in Kafue with the keepers and the orphan herd.

You can make a difference in the lives of these orphan elephants, bringing them one step closer to the wild, by donating today.