Oil palm workers in Edo’s Okomu plantation stumbled on a heartbreaking sight November 30—a tiny, dehydrated two-month-old forest elephant calf wandering alone, ears drooping, barely able to stand, sparking Nigeria’s historic wildlife rescue mission.
Park conservator Osaze Lawrence, ANI Foundation partners, and local vets rushed in for a herd reunion try that failed, confirming the orphan’s mom was gone—leading to round-the-clock rehab at a makeshift camp with emergency meds, custom milk formulas, and expert guidance from Zambia’s Liz O’Brien, who flew in to train locals on handling the fragile baby amid a 45% global die-off rate for such rescues.
This triumph signals Okomu National Park’s revival through community patrols, anti-logging wins, and boundary plans to cut human-elephant clashes, proving Nigeria can protect its last southern forest elephants when locals, NGOs, and government unite—”it takes a village to raise an elephant.”
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