Lewa's Wildlife Orphans

We here at Lewa and the many communities with whom we work often come into contact with animals struggling to survive, as a result of inter-animal feuds or occasionally human actions.

Some of the orphans at Lewa

These animals may be orphaned but rather than let nature take its course the human instinct is to help. What is needed is quick and efficient support otherwise they will die. In most cases orphans have been found in the areas where Lewa is supporting the community, where Lewa's expertise in animal husbandry is well known, such as Namunyak and Il Ngwesi.

Some of these orphans will be handed on to KWS or Daphne Sheldrick's elephant orphanage in Nairobi for further treatment, but most of them will be released back into the wild in the area where they originally came from or in a new area that is ready for re-stocking.

We never buy animals that are bought to the Conservancy as orphans because this encourages people to take a young wild animal away from its mother and this is effectively the start of an illegal trade in wildlife.