Raise Khanyisa Orphaned Elephant Snaring Survivor

We are happy to report on Miss Sunshine… Khanyisa!

So much love and dedication has gone into the raising of baby elephant Khanyisa, the snare survivor. There is plenty of Sunshine to love!

She can hardly fit through the orphanage door as she goes for a weigh-in with carers. How great it is to see her at more than 900 kilograms. She is clearly thriving thanks to all the support from her milk bottles, her carers and herd, and you, her supporters (foster parents and donors).

Khanyisa is stronger and more skilled at foraging and roaming in the bush each day, with the guidance of her elephant family.

There will be one more season of milk bottles before full weaning starts. Winter is here which means that the bush is becoming drier as the weeks progress. The rain will only return toward the end of the year, after Khanyisa turns four in September, bringing with it a greener, more abundant wilderness to help supplement Khanyisa’ s diet as she weans. So, we’ll take this winter as our last season of milk bottles.

Khanyisa is still building her skills and strength and needs to learn to feed like a big girl! To carry a massive tree branch like Tokwe, as she walks around the wilderness, feeding herself as she goes. To reach up to the tallest leaves on the Marula tree like Fishan and Sebakwe. To pull bark from the branches like Zindoga and dig up bulbs and roots like Lundi. We’ll be here watching her change in these and new ways. Each step by elephant step.

We couldn’t have gotten Khanyisa this far without your help… A big thank you to you, from all of us at HERD.

Thank you for all your donations and fosterings for our Miss Sunshine!

Don’t forget to follow us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to see more moments with Khanyisa.

Yours in conservation.

Adine and the HERD Team

Khanyisa Moves to the Homestead!

Albino elephant orphan and snare survivor, Khanyisa graduated from the orphanage at the end of October, joining the Homestead for the new month of November 2022. It was a big moment for us, but the elephants showed that they have Khanyisa’s best interests at hearts as they took her in and kept her safe just as they do in the bush.

They escorted her to the canopy area to feed with them and this was truly a heart-warming moment for us! As the sun set, the elephants settles down with their newest member for that first evening together.

The next morning in the homestead, we waited for the carers to arrive and lead the elephants out into the bush, before feeding Khanyisa. We quickly took to creating a new routine for Khanyisa. Routine makes a person feel safe so that they know what to expect. It also helps the elephants. We had enough time to prepare the milk, cut sweet potato, pick grass and bana grass and play with Lammie and Nungu at the orphanage before meeting with Khanyisa after her first night in the homestead. Khanyisa didn’t sleep much over the first few nights, which was not unexpected as she is new to the environment, new to how everyone sleeps and where she will fit in.

In her new breakfast spot, every morning since that first morning, Khanyisa excitedly picks up each of her bottles, one by one, and gulps down her milk. Then she munches down sweet potato, boskos (pellets) and apples, giving her an extra nutritious and tasty treat. After feeding, we set off to the bush.

Timisa continues to spend time with Khanyisa in the homestead, as we expected, the two youngest in the herd giving each other great support. Limpopo, Kumbura and Tokwe also give Khanyisa lots of protection and company in the homestead, just as they do in the bush during the day.

Khanyisa is now over 800 kilograms and gaining weight beautifully, showing that she is healthy and coping well with this new phase of her development.

We couldn’t have gotten Khanyisa this far without your help… A big thank you to you, from all of us at HERD.

Thank you for all your donations and fosterings for our Miss Sunshine!

Don’t forget to follow us on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to see more moments with Khanyisa.

Here is a special thank you youtube video from Adine. Thank You from Adine

Yours in conservation.

Adine and the HERD Team

We are happy to report on Miss Sunshine… Khanyisa!

So much love and dedication has gone into the raising of baby elephant Khanyisa, the snare survivor and orphan who has now fully rehabilitated and is counting down the days till she joins her new family in the bigger elephant homestead! This love and dedication have come from our carers daily, as each orphanage carer has played a role in Khanyisa’ s emotional and physical wellbeing, providing her with a helping hand, sweet potatoes, water, milk bottles, stimulation, exercise, rest, and blankets! They are her doctors, teachers, nurses, mothers, fathers, blanket tailors, gardeners and more!

The milk bottles that have seen Khanyisa grow big and strong and that have given her the energy and nutrients she needed to heal and advance in life. These bottles have been a substitute for the mother Khanyisa lost but it wasn’t an easy process. It involved getting her to take the bottle with the painful wounds around her mouth from the snare and to learn to suckle the new teat our carers and Adine presented her with. Khanyisa adapted well and even though she put us through a few fussy mornings and evenings, she took the bottles well and gulped down her formula — a mix of infant milk formula and essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals! Our carers love these moments with Khanyisa, feeding her like her mother would have, and helping her to grow so that she can feed herself in the bush. Khanyisa is being weaned off her night-time milk bottles currently so that she can join the herd in the homestead in the warmer months! Thank you for helping us to provide Sunshine with all the thousands and thousands of milk bottles that she has needed over the years! We are so thankful for your role in helping to raise Khanyisa!

On Monday 26 September 2022 was Khanyisa’ s 3^rd birthday!

Please click on the link below to check out the 100 Sweet Moments with Baby Elephant Khanyisa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oykfwu6K_AQ&t=896s

Khanyisa is weighing now a whole 708.5kg+

Khanyisa will be moving to the homestead in the warmer month of South Africa. In our next report we will report more on this new venture.

Without your generosity and kindness, it wouldn’t have been possible.

Thank you for all the donations and fostering’s for Khanyisa.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and You Tube to see more precious moments of Khanyisa.

Warm Regards,

Adine and The HERD Team

Dear HERD Family and Friends,

A warm ‘elephant-trumpet’ greeting from our HERD family to yours.

We are delighted to give a report on albino baby elephant orphan, Khanyisa.

• Khanyisa has been steadily gaining weight and now weighs in at over 600 kilograms - that’s almost 1323 pounds. She has gained 66kg since April 2022 with a 476kg gain since she was rescued back in January 2020. It’s hard to imagine that this healthy calf once weighed only 124kg.

• She is turning three years of age in September 2022. We are thrilled to celebrate this with you. Keep an eye out on our social media channels for special moments that we will share with our followers during September.

• Khanyisa is receiving three milk bottles six times a day rather than two milk bottles seven times a day. She will keep receiving milk, though, until around five or so years of age (between four and six depending on her health and progress). These milk bottles are essential for her growth and development, and we appreciate each and every single drop that is donated by our loyal HERD supporters.

• There may be no tooth fairies for little elephants, but carer Last certainly came close after discovering one of Khanyisa’s first teeth which fell out in May 2022.

• Khanyisa has many dedicated allomothers who take care of her across the day in the bush, but one elephant, Klaserie, has been slowly stepping in more and more – mostly in the afternoons. The more female elephants can practice their motherly skills in the presence of a younger orphan like Khanyisa in the herd, the better for the herd as this enables them to grow and develop new skills and experiences.

• Khanyisa is certainly a bundle of energy! She likes to run between different elephants in the herd and even off in her own direction at times. Day-by-day she is learning the necessary skills to survive in her environment.

• Though she loves to swim and splash around in the waterholes, the young calf is not very fond of puddles. The herd may be ready to go out into the wilderness for the day, but Khanyisa does not like to get her feet wet and takes her time joining the herd on their escapades for the day after there’s been some rainfall.

Kindly see new photos of Khanyisa below.

We are grateful for all your support. Khanyisa would not have reached these milestones without your generosity. We’re exceptionally proud of her progress and look forward to continuing to have you on this journey with us so we can keep sharing her beautiful success stories, step by elephant step, with you.

Warm Regards

HERD Team

Dear HERD Family and Friends

Warm greetings from HERD.

We are excited to give a report on Khanyisa.

Little sunshine has been doing extremely well and grown tremendously over these past few months. Its amazing to see how far she has come to think she couldn’t look over the orphanage fence and now she peeps over the fence and uses her magical trunk skills to open the stable doors as she eagerly waits for her milk bottles.

Little miss sunshine has been having loads of fun with raining season just passed, she has been out in the wilderness running in the rain puddles with her best friend Timisa and enjoying fun mud baths.

With the much-needed raining season Khanyisa wilderness has been filled with lots of greenery and lots of fresh new grass to forage on.

Marula season is upon us, and we have enjoyed watching Khanyisa mastered trunks skills collect delicious Marula fruit one by one, with her cute little growing tusks peeping out,  but the Marula fruit doesn’t come close to her love for sweet potatoes.

Khanyisa said hello to her good friend Stavros this past month who has been back as the orphanage, the two of them share a very special bond as Stavros has been along this journey with her most of her time since arriving at HERD.

Khanyisa enjoy her afternoons out in the bush with the rest of the herd, where she gets to spend time with beloved Tokwe, Lundi, Timisa, and Fishan who always keeps a close eye on her. She loves the water and it’s a real pretty sight to see her swimming with her herd family, this is mostly when can you see how pink little sunshine really is.

In the evenings she returns to the stables where she quiets down with Lammie and Nungu, she enjoys her sweet potatoes and her evening milk bottle.

Khanyisa is growing beautifully she is still a while away from weaning and will be dependent on us for milk formula for the next two years or so…

We are grateful for all your support, Khanyisa would not have gotten this far without your help,

We look forward to continuing to have you on this journey with us and to keep sharing her beautiful milestones with you