Moses the orphan baby elephant in Malawi passes away

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Moses has always been a little fighter who has beaten the odds against him since he was orphaned in Feb at a week old but over this weekend he finally faced a hurdle too big for him to overcome. He developed really bad colic and diarrhea which was particularly acute at night so that he spent most of Friday night on a drip – rallied during the day on Saturday then crashed again Saturday night spending most of the night on drips and so on until last night at midnight when he finally passed away in my arms.

He was such a stoic little guy with so much love to give that even a few hours before he died he was playing in the garden with his leaves and sticks and in his final minutes he was grunting softly to me in the way that he used to do at night, he then wrapped his trunk around my arm and breathed his final breath.

We did know that his chances of survival when he arrived were about 10% but he has defied all odds up until now with his determination to keep fighting on and beating every challenge up until this last one. Dr Ian Parsons , Dr Sanjay, Marleen De Febvre and Rachael from the ele orphanage in Zambia have been towers of support throughout this ordeal and indeed throughout Moses short life and together we have tried every remedy known to the elephant world but I guess Moses was never meant to make old bones.

Moses has been an elephant ambassador and opened up hearts and minds to people all over the world. We vow not to let Moses life be lived in vain and will continue in his name to fight elephant poaching, keep spreading the word through education and continue to save other babies lives.

Please bear with us whilst we grieve over the next few days and gather ourselves to put together the next stage of our plans and as always we will keep you up to date.

At 2 o'clock Malawi time GMT +2 Moses family will gather as an elephant herd does to pay our final respects if you would like to be a part of this take a minutes silence in the memory of a very special little elephant.

We have been privileged to be able to share 8 wonderful months with Moses and he has taught us so much about elephants, compassion and love and for this we will always be very grateful.

Jenny Webb
Jumbo Foundation Elephant Orphanage 

For more information please visit:

http://www.jumbofoundation.com

http://www.facebook.com/JumboFoundationElephantOrphanage