The health of an elephant calf that was separated from its herd has taken a turn for the worse overnight, an Elephants Alive official has said.
The calf, affectionately named Amanzi, fell into a holding dam near the Phalaborwa Copper Mine on February 16 while drinking water. It is believed the herd of elephants were in search of water due to the current drought crisis. A video emerged on social media showing the rescue being conducted.
Elephants Alive spokesperson Dr Michelle Henley on Tuesday told News24 that Amanzi was at a critical point.
“We are now going to try to give him supplements and try to adjust his feeding so he does not have diahorrea. He has lost a lot of body fluid so we are making efforts to alleviate this.”
Elephants Alive Facebook page said Amanzi was on a drip and that they would be gradually changing his milk formula.
“With great effort, we managed to track down a supplier for a formula which has led to the most successes (SMA GOLD). It is going to be costing us $1 300, excluding the transport costs.”
According to the post, the formula supplier resides in Upington.
“Consequently, we have embarked on a new mission to get the supply ASAP to Amanzi. We hope to have it trucked to Durban. From there DHL via the SATIB Conservation Trust will courier it to Nelspruit.
“We will also be slowly adding other supplements to the formula, as the experts say that most available formula is far from perfect for neonatal elephants.”