Living in the wilds of Asia comes with its own risks for calves, there’s the illness we’ve already talked about (EEHV), the risk of injury and infection, the risk of snares and poaching, and there’s a risk of developing a metabolic bone disease from malnutrition. Precious little is known about the composition of an elephant mother’s milk. What we’re finding, though, is that the formulas we use to help calves survive is not meeting all the needs of young calves who weren’t weaned before separation from their mom.
Unfortunately, even if an orphaned calf is rescued and cared for, they’re still not out of the woods. As far as we know, more than half of the rescued orphaned elephants tend to encounter metabolic bone disease as they grow up. This creates immense challenges for those in range countries struggling to help elephants outrun extinction. This complicated condition makes it far more likely a calf will die early due to fatal injuries from typically harmless events or an eventuality of their own bones not being able to support the weight of their bodies as they grow.
Calf being treated for bone misalignment
Mahouts, owners, veterinarians are banding together to care for these calves in a multitude of ways. Thanks to your contributions teams like the veterinarians with the CMU Mobile Vet Clinic are able to visit calves in need of help. They strive to provide the best care possible for their littlest patients while working hard to find solutions. In March, several attendees participated in a workshop dedicated to learning more about and finding a solution to the issues with current elephant milk replacers.
With your help, we can continue to fight for the survival of even the smallest elephants with quality veterinary care and the hope that the tools they have are best suited to help them grow big and strong.
Attendees of Elephant’s Milk Workshop learning formulas