Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

We are the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, and our work is dedicated to the protection and preservation of wildlife and wild habitats in Kenya. Our story began in 1977, when our founder, Dame Daphne Sheldrick, established our organization. She did so to honor the memory of her late husband, David Sheldrick, who was a remarkable pioneer in conservation. David served as the founding warden of Kenya's largest and most famous national park, Tsavo East. In those early days, our primary mission was born from a heartbreaking crisis: the need to rescue and hand-raise infant elephants and rhinoceroses. These vulnerable orphans were often the smallest victims of a surge in poaching, an illegal form of hunting that threatened to wipe out entire populations of these magnificent animals.

From the very beginning, we faced an enormous scientific challenge. While our hearts were committed to saving the orphans, our knowledge was limited. Specifically, we did not know how to feed them. The milk of an elephant is unique, and cow's milk or other substitutes were not suitable for a baby elephant's delicate digestive system. Before our work began, the survival rate for very young elephant orphans was tragically low. It became Dame Daphne’s life’s work to solve this puzzle. For 28 years, she tirelessly experimented, combining different ingredients and observing the results with meticulous care. Through this long process of trial and error, she finally perfected a special milk formula. This formula contained the precise nutrients an infant elephant needs to grow strong and healthy. This single breakthrough was the key that unlocked our ability to save countless lives and made our now-famous Orphans' Project possible.

Our Orphans' Project is the work we are best known for around the world. The journey for each orphan begins with a rescue, which can happen anywhere in Kenya. Once a baby elephant is safely in our care, it is brought to our special nursery, which is located near Nairobi National Park. Here, a new life begins, guided by a team of incredibly dedicated keepers. These men are more than just caretakers; they become a surrogate family to the traumatized youngsters. They provide care around the clock, feeding the babies their special milk formula from giant bottles every few hours. To provide comfort and security, the keepers even sleep in the stables with the young elephants. During the day, they walk with the orphans into the nearby forest, allowing them to play, explore, and learn the social behaviors of being an elephant in a safe, protected environment.

Our ultimate goal is not to keep these elephants, but to return every single orphan to the wild where it belongs. This is a long and careful process that respects each elephant's individual pace. When an orphan is about three years old, it 'graduates' from the nursery and moves to one of our Reintegration Units. These units are located in the vast Tsavo Conservation Area, the very wilderness their ancestors roamed. Here, they join a larger herd of other orphans and older, more experienced ex-orphans. They live in a semi-wild state, learning to forage for food, find water, and interact with wild herds under the watchful eyes of their keepers. This reintegration can take many years, sometimes up to a decade. We never force an elephant to leave; we allow each one to decide when it feels confident enough to join a wild herd permanently. We are proud to say that we have successfully raised over 260 orphaned elephants who are now living free and have even started their own families in the wild.

While we are famous for our work with elephants, our mission has grown to embrace the protection of all wildlife. We recognized that saving one species required protecting the entire ecosystem. To meet this need, we established our Mobile Veterinary Units. These teams travel across Kenya's diverse landscapes in specially equipped vehicles, providing life-saving medical treatment to any animal in need. They have treated giraffes caught in cruel wire snares, helped lions suffering from infections, and assisted countless other creatures. Alongside this medical work, we also fund and manage anti-poaching teams. These dedicated rangers patrol huge areas of wilderness, often in difficult terrain, working closely with the Kenya Wildlife Service to deter and stop illegal hunting. Protecting the environment itself is also a vital part of our work. We focus on securing precious water sources for animals during dry seasons and restoring forests that have been damaged, ensuring that these wild habitats can support life for generations to come.

Today, our work continues under the leadership of Daphne’s daughter, Angela Sheldrick, who grew up alongside the elephants and shares her mother's passion. All of our core projects, from the elephant nursery to our anti-poaching patrols, are more important than ever. We face ongoing and complex challenges, including habitat loss due to human development and increasing human-wildlife conflict as populations grow. Our efforts are entirely funded by the generosity of people from all over the world. Many of our supporters connect with our mission through our digital foster program. This program allows anyone, anywhere, to 'adopt' an orphaned elephant, rhinoceros, or giraffe. Their support helps pay for the milk, medicine, and keeper salaries that are essential for our work. This global family of supporters ensures that our promise to protect Kenya's wildlife endures.