Game Rangers International

As our name is "pachyderm" our first cycle of donations will be given to the

Game Rangers International for their Elephant Orphanage Project. Game Rangers International has been in operation since 2008 and was founded to assist communities surrounding Kafue National Park in Zambia. Kafue, at 22,400 km², is the second largest national park in Africa and the largest in Zambia. 

Their Elephant Orphanage Project begins at the Lilayi Elephant Nursery where abandoned elephant calves, victim to poaching and human conflict, are nursed and monitored around the clock. As soon as the calves can be weaned from milk they are moved to the Kafue National Park​, to join other older orphaned elephants at the EOP Kafue Release Facility. Here they are more independent of human support and move freely around the National Park. The Release Facility backs onto the Ngoma Teak Forest where there is a 1,000 strong local elephant population, which maximizes the opportunity for the orphans to eventually reintegrate with fellow elephants back in the wild.

For their elephant adoption program, it costs a mere $65 USD to adopt an elephant for a year. That adoption includes an adoption certificate with the profile and photos of our orphan’s story, quarterly updates highlighting events in the progress of our orphan including photos and a monthly newsletter from GRI about all of the projects and activities which we are helping to support.

There are a fair number of elephant rescue programs out there, not a huge amount of course, but enough to make the choice for the first cycle donations not an easy one. So the reasons behind this one being chosen are particularly important. They are specifically raising these beautiful creatures to return to life in the wild. No animal was made for captivity, even a blessed one in a sanctuary. If they can live independently, they should. It's true that like any other animal that is endangered, there are many that cannot survive independently anymore (read GRI's story of Suri here and about the memorial fund they have created for her here) and for them the sanctuaries are their best chance at happy lives. What I respect so greatly about Games Ranger International is their commitment to return the elephants to successful lives in the wild.

Double click the link below to visit our GoFundMe page and donate to GRI's Elephant Orphanage Project