7 June 2024
At least 12 orphaned elephants have been reintroduced into the wild, after spending years under care at Elephant Havens, an orphanage centre in northern Botswana.
Akanyang Mosabata, the senior elephant handler at the orphanage centre, on Wednesday told Xinhua in a phone interview that the elephants were abandoned as babies at a time when they couldn’t survive on their own.
“We are happy that they are coping well and are easily adapting to the wilderness,” said Mosabata, adding that the orphaned elephants were moved to soft release areas as a herd for about 10 years where they learned to explore, forage and play together without constantly interacting with their handlers.
The released elephants were tagged with a tracking collar, a means of artificial intelligence when it comes to monitoring and analysing the mammals’ behaviour as well as for easy identification, according to Mosabata.
Founded in 2017, Elephant Havens is believed to be the only elephant orphanage in the southern African country. Nestled along the Gomoti River banks at the edge of the Okavango Delta, the orphanage offers daily care and companionship for orphaned baby elephants.
Source: https://english.news.cn/africa/20240606/063aacdf662b4a5ba0ee1dcf352bd890/c.html
