SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST, KENYA
Orphaned Elephants in Kenya
Justin Mott documents orphaned elephants in Kenya at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi, where keepers raise calves by hand and sleep in their stalls to replace the family each animal has lost.
Inside the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Kenya
This chapter of Kindred Guardians follows the keepers at the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi, Kenya, where orphaned elephants are raised by hand. Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick founded the Trust in 1977 in memory of her husband, David Sheldrick. It is now one of the leading elephant rescue and rehabilitation organisations in East Africa.
Raised by hand, around the clock
The keepers care for these elephants 24 hours a day. They feed them from oversized milk bottles and sleep beside them in their stalls, standing in for the family each calf has lost. It is the first step on a long road back to the wild, and it can take years.
Through these photographs I wanted to show both the young elephants and the people who give up their own nights and holidays to raise them.
Part of the Kindred Guardians project
Kindred Guardians is my ongoing documentary series about the people who dedicate their lives to animals in need. The goal is a book that gathers these stories in one place and gives endangered species, and their caretakers, a voice.