A baby albino elephant has been left with a huge ‘Joker scar’ across its face after it was caught in a snare for four whole days.
The poor elephant calf, named Khanyisa, was found alone and tangled in the snare at a private reserve close to the border of Kruger National Park in South Africa.
Horrifically, she had cuts around her ears and the snare had wrapped around Khanyisa’s cheeks causing the deep, ‘Joker like’ lacerations to her face.
Her wounds were so bad maggots had starting eating the open flesh decaying around her cheeks, causing gaping holes in her mouth.
Luckily, the adorable elephant, who has pink skin instead of an elephant’s usual grey skin, was rescued by elephant orphanage Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development (HERD).
Sue Howells, who works for the organisation, said:
She looked so innocent, fragile and pure, and yet so brave – a unique beauty who had been sadly mutilated by the hands of man.
We knew we had to help her and protect her and give her a place of safety that she never has to endure such trauma again.
Khanyisa is an exceptionally strong and brave little elephant. She is incredibly resilient and has what seems to be an uncrushable spirit.
Her sweet, fragile and thoughtful personality shines through her toughness, despite everything that she has endured at such a young age.
The original rescue centre, Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre, was founded in 1997 by Lente Roode, who had already established a cheetah breeding project that eventually evolved into a wildlife conservation centre.
Jabulani was the first elephants to come into Lente’s care and has been with her since he was just four months old.
Their website tells you more about his story. It reads:
Jabulani, an elephant calf of just four months, was brought into Lente’s care, after he had been found injured, abandoned and stuck in the mud of a silt dam. At HESC he was successfully rehabilitated and once weaned, introduced to the wild elephants of the reserve. However, they were not interested in him and he kept returning to the comfort and familiarity of HESC, which he clearly preferred.
Yet fate had a different plan for Jabulani. In 2002, Lente was contacted to urgently step in and rescue a herd of elephants from an elephant-back safari operation in Zimbabwe. The elephants were to be culled during the country’s land reformation process.
You can actually visit both Jabulani and Khanyisa as the rescue centre has lodges you can stay in, and you can also book experiences with the elephants such as swimming and sunset walks.
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Niamh Shackleton is a pint sized person and journalist at UNILAD. After studying Multimedia Journalism at the University of Salford, she did a year at Caters News Agency as a features writer in Birmingham before deciding that Manchester is (arguably) one of the best places in the world, and therefore moved back up north. She’s also UNILAD’s unofficial crazy animal lady.