On April 18, 2009, shots rang
out in northern Kenya, and Lewa security received a report that two elephant
had been shot. Cello, one of Lewa’s
best-known elephant
and matriarch of the “Instrument Family,” was now fighting
for her life. Her family had scattered
in terror, and her three-month-old daughter would most certainly die.
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| Cello in her prime |
Cello walked for eight days
with little food or water, making her way back to Lewa where she knew she would
be safe. She was spotted as soon as
she arrived and was treated within hours.
A bullet was removed from her right front leg, the wound was cleaned,
and she was given massive doses of time-release antibiotics. Although this treatment is often very
effective, there was serious concern because bone fragments were found in the
wound. Over the next few days, Cello
was closely monitored and appeared to improve; the infection was subsiding and
the swelling was going down.
 |
| Cello's wound was cleaned and long acting antibiotics were administered |
However,
within a week, Cello began to deteriorate, and the decision was made to treat her one more time. We knew there was a good chance that she
might not have the strength to get up, but without treatment, she would surely die. At 3:45, Cello was darted. Working as quickly as possible, the team
cleaned and flushed the wound and, again, injected large doses of long acting
antibiotics as well as pain killers. The
"wake up" drug was given and everyone anxiously stood by. At first, nothing. Slowly, Cello began struggling to get to her feet,
but it soon became apparent that she could not get up on her own.
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| Ropes were secured to Cello's tusks and a car was positioned under her haunches to help her get her to her feet |
The Lewa team sprang into
action and, over the course of the next hour, strategically put ropes and cars
in position. The men had to exercise extreme caution while trying to position
the ropes around Cello’s tusks because although she did not have the strength
to get to her feet, she was now awake and had full use of her potentially
lethal trunk. Once the ropes were in
place, one car was angled to pull the ropes, and the other was stationed behind
her haunches to help push her to her feet.
After several failed attempts and just when it appeared that Cello no
longer had the strength to try again, all of the pieces of the puzzle came
together. The ropes were in place, the
vehicles were in position and she began to rock. At 5:13, Cello was on her feet.
Amazingly, Cello made no
effort to charge the vehicles or the men who were on the ground. On some level, she must have known that despite
her fear and trauma, everyone was there to help her. She had thanked us in her own way.
Cello was alive and over the
coming weeks appeared to be improving. However,
her life still hung very much in the balance.
To be continued. . . . . .
