NTV's Bill Otieno Captures Baby Elephants Running in Feeding Frenzy

Elephant Ccalves running for feeding at the Tsavo East National Park
Elephant calves running for feeding at the Tsavo East National Park

Earlier in the week, Tourism and Wildlife Permanent Secretary (PS) Prof Fred Segor had the opportunity of feeding baby elephants at the Tsavo East National Park.

Accompanied by journalists including NTV's Bill Otieno who captured the moments when the feeding frenzy began.

In the video, the rangers from Sheldrick Wildlife Trust call out to the calves who stampede to the scene where they can be feed.

The eager calves race to get to the feeding bottle of milk held by the rangers. The Tourism PS is seen feeding one calf as others are able to hold on to the bootle with their trunks.

An elephant calf drinking milk at Tsavo East National Park
An elephant calf drinking milk at Tsavo East National Park

The elephants, though young, are already the height of a full-grown man. 

The calves greedily slurp from oversized "baby bottles", rumbling contentedly and trumpeting excitedly as they ingest the special mix of human baby formula, water, and vitamins.

"Seeing animals in their natural habitat is a one of kind wonder especially if they carry out their usual routine. Having them this close is quite scary and exciting at the same time," NTV's Bill Otieno commented as he recorded a video of the feeding.

The feeding is a normal exercise that takes place as some of them are orphans having lost their mothers to poaching or natural causes.

The calves are dependent on their mother’s milk for the first two years but in the baby nursery elephants at the Sheldrick, they are fed with special milk formula.

"They are also necessarily covered in blankets to protect them from the morning cold.

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"When the elephants are stable enough to survive on their own in the wild, they are then moved to Tsavo National Park, where they are carefully reintroduced into wild herds," the conservancy's website reads in part.

Ivory and rhino horn poaching, habitat destruction and bushmeat poaching are having a devastating effect on Africa’s wildlife and wild spaces.