IFAW Relocates Orphaned Elephant

IFAW

An unusual mission swung into gear today as the International Fund for Animal
Welfare (IFAW - www. ifaw.org) airlifted an orphaned, two-month old African elephant, named Olly, to safety.

"Olly was found abandoned in a dry river bed near Selebi Pikwe, in northern Botswana. No one knows what happened to its mother or what happened to its herd," said Jason Bell, Southern African Director of IFAW. "However, in much of Africa elephants continue to be under threat from poachers - mostly because ivory continues to be a prized commodity."

After he was found in late October, Olly was taken by the Wildcare Africa Trust and moved to a rehabilitation center, near Pretoria, South Africa, where he was stabilized in preparation for the flight. Today Olly was relocated to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust based in Tsavo East National Park, Kenya - the most successful elephant refuge in the world.

"Now that the elephant has been stabilized sufficiently to be moved, it is essential that it have the company of other calves of a similar age and eventually be released into the wild, in a safe and protected environment," said Bell.

The Bateleurs', a group of pilots and airplane owners who donate their services to environmental groups, flew Olly from South Africa to Kenya.

"We're delighted that IFAW is making it possible to give one small victim an opportunity to be rehabilitated and integrated into a herd, safe from the dangers of a possible cull and safe from poachers," said Karen Trendler, founder of Wildcare Africa Trust.

During the 1980s African elephant populations declined by half - from 1.3-million elephants to about 600,000, most due to poaching to fuel the ivory trade. In 1997 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) allowed Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe to sell stockpiled ivory to Japan. And, in 2002, CITES agreed to allow South Africa, Botswana and Namibia to one-off sales of a total of 60-tons of stockpiled ivory but not before May 2004.

IFAW believes any resumption of the ivory trade inevitably leads to poaching and puts elephants in danger. The organization works to save elephants through a combination of hands-on protection against poachers and the expansion of safe habitat.

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