A two-hour flight, mud like quicksand and a trapped mum and baby. This is elephant conservation in action: emergency response for nature’s giants. When friends far up in Samburu called us for help, we knew we had to act. We have unique expertise in this kind of rescue: last year alone, our Aerial Unit helped extract 17 elephants from similar predicaments. Our pilot loaded one of our fixed-wing aircraft with our custom elephant straps and flew north. This was the scene that greeted him: an adult and calf stuck fast in drying mud. Together with personnel from Ol Malo, Loisaba Conservancy and the Kenya Wildlife Service, we worked the straps around the elephants. First came the calf, who was easier to haul out, then the adult, who proved a much greater challenge. Mission complete, both elephants slowly got their bearings and walked off. It’s the height of the dry season, and times are difficult across the country. When Kenya’s elephants need us, wherever they may be, we will answer the call. Your donations make it possible: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/d…

Our Voi mamas are home for breakfast! We had a full house at the stockades as ex-orphan mother-and-baby pairs poured in. Keeper Walter captured the lovely morning mayhem, which included mums Mweya, Mbirikani, Kihari, Sagalla, Arruba, and Naipoki. We love these family reunions, which show the power of your donations. Every big elephant here was orphaned as an infant and raised in our care with the help of our donors, and now they are living wild and nurturing their own families. If you’d like to help feed an orphaned elephant, you can do so here: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/s…

Poppi has already found her feet at our Nursery. Her Keepers say she is remarkably self-sufficient for her age. She has the Nursery routines mapped out, knows where the best greens grow, and is not shy of starting a pushing match. Each evening, she insists on leading the whole herd home, her short legs racing to her stable with purpose. She lost her mother, but she has plenty of family around her now. Follow Poppi’s journey back to the wild by adopting her: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/o…

Last month, our Air Wing helped a giraffe mother who had been roaming with a snare on her leg. Our helicopter took a KWS vet close enough to dart her from the air. Then the veterinary team moved in, and 150 seconds later the snare was off. It’s one of many jobs our pilots take on in a typical month, from monitoring for illegal activity and injured animals to flying out to help with anti-poaching operations, human-wildlife conflict, orphan rescues and any field emergency. Watch the operation begin: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/n…

It’s pretty dry around our Kaluku Neonate Nursery, so Kaikai and Bungalu are making the most of every fresh bunch of greens. Today they hit the jackpot! Bungalu has been tucking into grown-up food for a while now, but at 17 months old he still has a bottle of milk every three hours, day and night. He arrived with very little energy, having survived a lion attack, a storm, and weeks on his own before the community helped rescue him. Now he’s filling out – so much so that his Keepers predict he will grow into a very big elephant in the fullness of time. Adopt Bungalu: sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/o…

Emergency treatment of a snared lion. It was tourists who first spotted him: a male who should have been in his prime, hobbled by a snare embedded tightly around his left forelimb. Born Free and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) alerted our nearby Veterinary Unit, which works in the Meru landscape. Our team darted him with anaesthetic and removed the snare right there in the bush. The vet’s prognosis? A good chance of recovery, with continued monitoring to see how he heals. Not every lion we reach can be saved, but we go to each one. Working with KWS, our Vet Teams have attended 252 injured lions to date, from spear wounds to human-wildlife conflict injuries. Your donations make this possible.