GRI’s Elephant Orphanage Project was established in 2008 with critical funding from the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF), with the mission to rescue, rehabilitate and release orphaned elephants back into the wild.

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Zambia’s elephants continue to face persecution through illegal ivory poaching and human-elephant conflict as wildlife and communities are increasingly brought into contact as they fight for the same resources.

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The young and vulnerable orphaned calves who are left behind are the real victims of wildlife crime and conflict. Without a mother’s protection and nutrition they would not survive for long.

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The goal with every elephant we rescue is to return them to the wild where they belong, but this is a very lengthy process as we work to rehabilitate, recover and restore broken hearts and injured bodies.  We take a research led approach and collect data on the orphans from the point of rescue through to their release which is critical to informing management and ensuring welfare.

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It usually takes over 10 years for an elephant to be nurtured and rehabilitated from their traumatic start and have developed into a strong and confident enough young adult who is ready physically and emotionally to be reintegrated into a wild herd, to live their life back in the wild where they belong.