Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Narripi

We first heard about the elephant nursery run by David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust on the NPR radio show, Living on Earth. The trust is based in Tsavo National Park, Kenya. These animals are orphans and often the victims of poaching, ivory trade and other human interferences in their habitat. We both love elephants. Baby elephants are simply adorable. The trust which runs this orphanage is a great organization fostering the cause of conservation and protection of wildlife in Tsavo. I visited their website and wanted to help. As a gift to my wife on her birthday, we fostered a small baby elephant - Lualeni. Here is a picture of Lualeni with her keeper.
Lualeni
Yesterday we got the sad news of the death of Narripi, another little elephant in the nursery. I had read about Narripi on the trust's website. Narripi was a brave little elephant. He was rescued from a hole in which he was trapped after he got separated from his mother and his herd. A Maasai discovered him and contacted the trust. Narripi was in a bad shape when he arrived. His trunk had been ravage by hyenas and had to be operated on. Narripi (which means "male guide" in the Maa dialect) was recovering pretty well. He passed away fighting a serious bout of pneumonia. You can read the full story here. Here is a picture of Narripi
Narripi
In a world where there is so much suffering, both for humans and other sentient beings, I applaud the great job the trust is doing for these animals. There are many such organizations worldwide trying to reduce the plight of humans and animals. I feel that it is our duty to support such causes by contributing our time, money or other resources possible. I also feel that it is very important for the whole human society to undergo a major overhaul in terms of its lifestyle. We need to imagine and strive for a world where ALL humans can enjoy a lifestyle which is comfortable and amply fulfills our basic needs AND which allows harmonious existence for other sentient beings in this world. The words sound lofty and the concept sounds too "ideal" to be possible. But I feel it is the only thing worth striving for.

As for Narripi, I wish you a happy journey little fella. You gave us great joy. We will try to help your friends as much as we can.

Techorati Tags: , , ,

No comments: