Elephant Orphans

I love baby elephants. 60 Minutes had a report on an orphanage for baby elephants in Africa. Because of the increase in poaching, thanks to the legalization of selling ivory, many baby elephants are left stranded, and are unable to live on it's own beyond a few days.

The elephants play soccer, and get coconut oil massages. Eventually they are sent back into the wild.



Dame Daphne, who was just named a dame by Queen Elizabeth II, has been running the orphanage for almost 30 years. She was born and raised in Kenya and married David Sheldrick, Africa’s leading crusader against poaching.

When he died in 1977, she founded the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Back then, there were about 100,000 elephants in Kenya. Now there are about a quarter as many — largely due to poachers. Then, as now, the ivory from their tusks is a very valuable commodity. From the beginning, Daphne saw her mission as saving as many elephants as possible.


Watch it Here