Fishan Brave Elephant who Survived a Fractured leg

We are excited to share an update on how Fishan is doing. 

With Winter now a distant memory, Fishan is back to his old self. While he will always have a limp from his old injury, Spring has put a spring in his step!

Fishan continues to live a whole and active life, keeping up with the herd as they roam the bush. And despite a bit of a rough wintertime, he is holding on to his stable place within the herd’s hierarchy.

During the colder winter months, he did experience some discomfort from his leg’s injury, but thanks to our supporters, we were able to provide medication and treatments to ease him through.

His injury will always remain a part of him, but we’ve been fascinated to see just how much recovery he has managed. He moves about with remarkable resilience and eats… well like a young, growing bull. Sometimes to his own detriment.

During the dry winter, HERD sometimes buy cabbage and citrus to contribute to the elephants nutritional requirements. These items are divided and distributed evenly to make sure everyone gets their share.

One morning, when we walked to the feeding area, Fishan was uneasy, lying down and getting back up again, before lying down again. It was clear he was in pain. 

Turns out, Fishan was naughty that morning and chased away the other elephants so that he could get all the cabbage. He would soon regret his decision as cabbage can lead to gas-related colic. The raffinose in the cabbage is not easily digested by an elephant’s digestive system, and when fermented by gut bacteria, it produces significant amounts of gas. This intestinal gas was the cause of the severe pain and discomfort for Fishan.  

We treated him with Flunixen and he was fine within an hour. And we hope he learnt his lesson.  

Going forward, careful monitoring of his behaviour remains a priority, ensuring we can support him whenever he requires a helping hand. We eagerly await our rainy season, which will make our reserve lush and green again and provide adequate feed, making cabbage-related gas less likely!

As always, we are deeply grateful for your support.

Your commitment to Fishan and our conservation efforts makes a world of difference, not only to him, but to the entire herd.

Please know that you are an essential part of our mission, and we couldn’t do this without you.

From all of us at HERD, thank you for being such an essential part of our journey.

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Yours in Conservation

The Herd Team