A place of hope amid the elephant poaching crisis

(CBS News) NAIROBI, Kenya -- There is an elephant poaching crisis in Africa: 25,000 are killed a year.

There is, however, one place of hope near Nairobi.

The orphaned elephants there are getting a second chance at life thanks to their "foster mother," Dame Daphne Sheldrick.

"We try to replicate what that baby elephant would have had in the wild, the most important being a family," Sheldrick said.

Sheldrick has lived among elephants for nearly 60 years and started the orphanage in the 1970s when poaching elephants for their tusks became an international crisis.

Over the years, she's discovered elephants share many traits with humans: A long life span, mourning of their dead, and strong family bonds. That's led to new techniques for raising elephants in captivity.

"So we have a team of keepers that represent the elephant family that they've lost. And here in the nursery, the keepers and the attendants are with the little orphans 24 hours a day, because a baby elephant in a natural situation would never ever be left on its own and all the family care for that baby," Sheldrick said.

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Today, elephants are under attack again, by criminal gangs of poachers. For Sheldrick, it cuts deeply.

"I've raised over 150 infants thru the nursery here. We've lost our own orphans to poaching; one named Sellengay just the other day. And we raised that orphan from one week old. It's like losing a family member," Sheldrick said.

Sheldrick's latest adoptee is one-year-old Quanza.

Her mother and two sisters were gunned down near a National Park, and Sheldrick's staff was called in to help. The baby was in severe shock, and would not feed. Quanza was stabilized by veterinarians -- then airlifted back to the orphanage.

Sheldrick says it's difficult to get traumatized elephants to accept food from humans. So it was a big moment when Quanza took milk from a bottle for the first time.

The human touch is crucial, but Sheldrick told us Quanza's fellow orphans are just as important.

"They communicate telepathically, and she will be able to take her cue from them. And they will be comforting her. The ones that are established here understand her predicament, and they will comfort her," Sheldrick said.

Qwanza won't be released back to the wild for ten years, but if that happens, she would be Sheldrick graduate number 198. That's a record made possible by her caretakers, human and otherwise.

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[nvhorseman]

Nothing can be replicated for raising wild animals. One creates young rogue elephants that turn mean and attack villages and people and are not naturally afraid of people. You must hit the source of employment of the poachers and offer the poachers more money and sustainability than what the wild animal tusks, hides and body parts provide. That employment is centered in CHINA and Southeast Asia, where shop owners pay high prices for all of these wild animal slaughters. The first step is for our Wildlife Funds and Organizations to go to China and Southeast Asian countries and lobby for a cessation of the ivory trade immediately. Provide strict sanctions on other countries that import ivory, hides and body parts from these animals in misguided attempts to bolster their self esteem. It should be a mark of shame in China to wear ivory. Get China's youth involved through the internet or at least Southeast Asia's youth as their internet usage is more open to social networking unlike China's repressive and internet controlling government. NO ONE should buy ANYTHING from China unless they have to do so for an emergency and there is nothing in this murderous plunder that is an emergency other than to get it stopped. All African countries should have one drone each that would surveil the country for these poachers and be armed to shoot and destroy them if found. Now THAT would stop the slaughter. There is no nice way to save a species of animal from extinction.

[Transatlantique]

Hopefully there will be no more poachers when Quanza is released into the wild. I have no sympathy for humans who abuse or murder animals for profit. We need more humans like Dame Daphne Sheldrick. It seems like the republican'ts would be more vocal and active about saving their mascot.

[starbuk95]

Heaven awaits a very special place reserved for Dame Daphne Sheldrick. God bless you for your compassion for such sentient and wondrous creatures.

[judymar14]

I couldn't read the article nor watch the video. It will surely be graphic scenes of mutilated animals, and I've seen enough.

Supply and demand, as long there are ignorant people in Asian countries who believe parts of these beautiful beasts such as ground up Rhino horn - which is hair - for virilty, monkey hands used as ashtrays, ivory for decoration objects or animal pelts/heads to throw on the floor, these slaughters will continue.

Brutal torturing to death - as African countries are known for - would be a be a good deterrent.

I have made this same comment before on the subject so if anyone feels the need to reply I have, don't bother, I already know.

[kathymac06]

Dame Daphne Sheldrick and her team are wonderful people and a real inspiration. Thanks for sharing such a great story.

[ATN2002]

Thanks, CBS, for airing this story.

[cbs_news_guy]

Wow! Salute to Dame Daphne Sheldrick! How unfortunate are we to lose these majestic animals for some meaningless ivory piquete? Fundamental reason is the unreasonable imbalance of wealth and power among beings. Mother Nature itself nurtures it, and humans have exacerbated it.

Hope the Divine, the protector of the world, gives strength to the weak and sound knowledge to those who are strong.