Quanza

Quanza is one of the seven rescued by Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (SWT) orphaned elephants whose names adorn our Elephant Strength Gin miniature bottles (and who we are a proud foster parent of). We chose these seven beautiful elephants as they’ve shown incredible strength and persistence, overcoming terrible heartaches, unbelievable traumas, injuries and losses of their family.

The crack of a heavy rifle, designed specially to kill elephants, is unmistakable. It’s a little like a sonic boom, a crash followed by a roll of sound, not unlike thunder. This is what the Big Life Foundation rangers, manning an observation point on the Tanzania border, heard on 28th October 2012. Three shots in quick succession.

At midday, the gut-wrenching news arrived: three dead elephants had been found, their faces cut away, their ivory gone.
The dead elephants were identified as Qumquat, born in 1968, one of Amboseli’s most famous and oldest matriarchs, a subject to long-time research and observation, and her two daughters, Qantina and Quaye. Just 24 hours before they were gunned down, Big Life’s Nick Brandt took the above photo of the three of them, alive on their last afternoon together (see below).

When the rangers found the carcasses, Qumquat’s youngest calf, Quanza, only ten months old, was also there, watching over his mother’s carcass. The calf, traumatized at having watched its mother shot and butchered, had stood vigil all night alone. He was caught and picked up by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust rescue team and flown to the Sheldrick orphanage near Nairobi. It took a few days for her to understand that not all humans are evil, and in this she has been helped by the other 25 Nursery elephant orphans who have been through the same loss, now fortunate to be amongst those few who have been rescued and who have found an alternative family and given a second chance of life.

With the help of Big Life’s informer network, the team was able to locate one of the key poachers, and the following day, the Big Life teams, in partnership with Kenya Wildlife Service, arrested him. This is a good example of what can happen when everyone pulls together, in this case, Big Life Foundation, Kenya Wildlife Service, Amboseli Trust for Elephants and the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

Text: New York Times & Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
Photo credit: Nick Brandt

Watch the rescue video here