Fisherman rescues baby elephant

ENTEBBE. Twiki, a one-week-old elephant was rescued by a fisherman, after it was abandoned by its herd at the shores of Hamukungu Island on Lake George in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
The tired and dehydrated calf had got stuck in the mud on December 5.
The fisherman, Mr Livingstone Twikiriza then called Uganda Wildlife Authority officials for help in rescuing the animal.

“He found it stuck in mud, since we always train the nearby residents, he tried to rescue the baby as he called us for more support and that is how our team reached the scene to help the baby elephant,” said Dr Andrew Seguya, the UWA executive director, adding that the calf is now undergoing rehabilitation at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (Uwec) in Entebbe.
Uwec executive director James Musinguzi confirmed that they received baby Twiki and immediately introduced it to new medication.

“He is now being fed on human baby formula milk (SMA) as per age-specific manufacturer’s formula recommendations for a specified period and then we will start mixing SMA with fresh diary UHT milk from which the cream is removed after boiling in a ratio of 1:1,” says Musinguzi.
Mr Musinguzi added that Twiki currently feeds on 2.5 litres of milk four times a day at 6am, 11am, 2pm and 8pm. The milk is always warm, clean and offered in a feeding bottle.
Twiki is currently in quarantine, where he is expected to stay for a while, before he is taken to his new home in a natural environment where people will be able to see him.
Mr Musinguzi commended the relationship between Uwec and Uwa that enabled Dr Sseguya to quickly call them to take the animal from Katunguru after rescuing it.

Uwec public relations officer Isaac Mujjasi told Daily Monitor that they have two elephants at the centre, five-year-old Charles Hamukungu that was rescued from the same place five years ago and now baby Twiki.
“Right now UWEC need sponsors because the two elephants are expensive in terms of feeding like Charles uses Shs201,600,000 per year alone, a month Shs16,800,000 , a week Shs4,200,000 and a day about Shs600,000 and we expect Twiki to eat more because he is still a baby feeding on expensive milk. We expect to use about Shs1 million every day,” Mr Mujjasi said.

The convention on international trade in endangered species of wild flora and fauna categorises elephants as endangered species facing extinction because of their ivory which is on high demand on the world market. Elephants are listed as endangered on the world conservation union’s red list of threatened animals. Poachers always kill them for their tusks and meat that is loved by bush meat eaters. Others are killed while defending their habitats.
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