The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. A trust originally started by Dame Daphne Sheldrick in honor of her late husband Mr. David Leslie William Sheldrick. David was a lover of animals, especially elephants and rhinos, and spent most of his life dealing with them.

What this team of incredible people does is that they rescue all orphaned elephants, rhinos, and occasionally giraffes. Any elephant, who is still a baby and has been orphaned or abandoned, they take in and care for. The animals is cared for by keepers who look after the babies 24/7 and treat them all as if they were their own children.

People, like you and me across the globe, are allowed to foster animals online. Paying a small monthly fee to care for the animals and keep the trust able to rescue more abandoned animals. Foster parents receive monthly updates and packs about the orphan elephant, rhino, or giraffe. As the animal grows up and is cared for by the wonderful keepers, who have dedicated their lives to caring for the baby, (in the beginning they even sleep in the same shed as them) They are then slowly reintroduced to the wild and given more and more freedom, similar to how we as humans raise our kids. When the animal is old enough they reintegrate them into the wild, so that they can raise their own families and hopefully expand the population of the already vulnerable or endangered species. This means that the animals can be dependent on the trust for up to 10 years or so until they take their rightful place in the wild. 

I personally have had the opportunity and have been lucky enough to be able to foster a sweet baby elephant named Roi when I was only 11. Roi had a special story that really touched me. This is another huge benefit to fostering an orphan, when choosing which elephant, you want to foster you can read their stories as well as their background and really choose the elephant that you feel really connected too.

One day she was pictured by a tourist grazing with her mother and family, sadly the next day that same tourist found a very different story: Roi was standing beside her dead mother, totally confused. It was found that Roi’s mother had been killed by a poisonous spear wound in the cheek.

I was really shocked and amazed at the same time. On one hand there is a person who deprived this elephant of motherly love and on the other hand there is hope and good people in this world who are actually doing something to help.

Now I chose to foster little Roi and I felt like I was a part of something brilliant, an act of humanity.

If you happen to visit Nairobi, Kenya you can meet your own foster animal, which I also did when in 2016 I went to visit the Trust in April. Please continue to show support to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, and if possible contribute to this amazing cause.