An unexpected but oh-so heartwarming moment happened in the life of baby bull Phabeni after an ellie mom and daughter duo welcomed him in a way the HERD team never expected:
South Africa (22 February 2024) — Phabeni, the baby elephant orphan, recently experienced a big and unexpected highlight in his new life with HERD—the Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development team.
An oh-so heartwarming moment happened for Phabeni, HERD founder Adine Roode and elephant care-taker, Tigere after an ellie mom and her daughter essentially ‘adopted’ the baby ellie who is still finding his way as the newcomer to the herd.
Phabeni was rescued and brought to HERD’s care in November when he was only 4 months old. Since then, he has experienced a few wonderful, trunk trumpeting moments like putting on weight and meeting members of his new family.
But the recent highlight for the baby came when he was introduced to ellie mom Setombe and her daughter Klaserie.
Setombe, the oldest elephant and ‘head disciplinarian’ is known for not taking on baby elephants, though she is very protective and close with her Kaserie. If we think of Setombe as the head principal at school and Phabeni as the mischievous new child, the moment shared between them becomes even more special.
Captured on video, little Phabeni initially fed on female Lundi who is now comfortable with the baby bull. But towards the end of the video, where he tries his luck by suckling on Klaserie (who wasn’t sure how to feed properly), Setombe steps in, and something incredible happens.
Setombe let Phabeni suckle and welcomed the little one in a way the team had never seen from her before. Further, Kalserie was also determined to have time with Phabeni, marking the genesis of a most unexpected bond between the Ellie mom and daughter duo and the bull.
“Never did we think that Setombe would take to a new orphan in this way. Setombe followed Phabeni everywhere, even reversing to catch up to him. Setombe has never welcomed new babies like this and has always been purely hyper-focused on her own daughter in terms of bonding and protecting…this was a window to a new world for us. One that we were so excited to continue looking through,” shares Adine.
“Just when you think you know someone, they turn around and surprise you.”
In other good news for the baby bull, he is also earning a new nickname ‘Big Boy Phabeni’ after his recent weigh-in saw him at 157 kilograms, a big jump from his initial 122 kilograms and even January’s 136kgs!
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