Interview with Angela Sheldrick, CEO of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

Angela Sheldrick, CEO of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, chats with Gina Baksa about her family’s elephant orphanage and wildlife conservancy in Nairobi.

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is the most successful orphan elephant rescue and rehabilitation program in the world and one of the pioneering conservation organisations for wildlife and habitat protection in East Africa.

Chaired by Dame Daphne Sheldrick, the DSWT is run by their daughter Angela. Growing up in Tsavo and later in the Nairobi National Park, Angela has been part of the Trust’s vision from the beginning, supported by her husband and children.

This is a very special place. I’ve just been on a private tour with headkeeper Edwin Lusichi. Some of the orphans are barely a month old and on a drip.

So tiny. Others are older and stronger. Meet their dedicated keepers who watch their charges 24/7, even sleeping with them in their stalls.

It was an honour to chat with Angela Sheldrick about the life-saving work of DSWT.

LM: Can you remember a time growing up when you didn’t have animals?
AS: Our home was always full of animals; the wild kind and orphaned animals were constantly being brought into our care, as that comes with the job of being a National Park warden.

My father was fortunate to have a wife gifted in the art of nurturing and raising animals of all species, as very often, this was pioneering work.

LM: Your mum looked after the first elephant at home. What was that like?
AS: My mother and father raised the first orphaned baby elephants in the late 1940s but the neonate baby elephants were extremely difficult and over the years many died.

It was clear that their milk requirements were very different from every other species, and slowly Daphne got closer to unlocking the answer, eventually succeeding to raise the first infant milk dependent elephant in the world.

We had a number of elephants in Tsavo while I was growing up, and our orphans were divided into the big orphans, elephants, rhinos, buffalos and zebra – all of those would walk down to the river with their keepers daily venturing further afield.

Then, the little orphans were allowed to live around the house, garden and environs as they were not so destructive, sparing Mum’s garden a little.  These were antelopes of all kinds: infant elephants, warthogs, and mongooses, to name just a few.

LM: Your mother, Dame Daphne, is a massive force in the field of conservation. What values has she instilled in you? And how do you support each other?
AS: I have been running the Trust for 20 years now, supported by a wonderful husband and with the benefit of Daphne’s wisdom and guidance throughout this time.

We have been able to complement each other because my husband and I have better understood the digital age, and Daphne has all the invaluable experience of a life lived and working in conservation, practically finding solutions to unique and varied challenges along the way.

Her experience cannot be learnt in a classroom because each case is different, requiring an individual approach; there is no white paper to follow.

Imparting this experience over the years, sharing in the highs and the lows has been invaluable for us all. My two sons have also benefited from growing up near Daphne as well, having her a part of their daily lives, and because of that, they have the passion and commitment to continue this extraordinary legacy in the future.

LM: What memories do you have of your father, David Sheldrick?
AS: I have many very special memories of David, who was a loving, attentive and wonderful father, someone who I am extremely proud of.

He really was an extraordinary man and, in the fullness of time, I really appreciate just how ahead of his time he really was, a real renaissance man, so capable of carving out a wilderness the size of a country from virgin bush in a time without today’s modern conveniences, yet so compassionate and gentle.

He is the one that taught my mother the most valuable lessons about the natural world, and, of course, growing up, living it each day defines one. Respecting nature and all living creatures, dismissing the arrogance of man that we are superior, understanding the complex nuances of other creatures, just how extraordinary all life is if one takes the time to learn about them.

He knew so much about everything, not just animals, birds, reptiles, and vegetation, but the insect world as well.

LM: David’s massive contribution to wildlife conservation continues with you and your mother. You are now the CEO of DSWT. Is that a daunting responsibility? 
AS: It has been wonderful to be in a position to now make much of David’s visions and dreams a reality, as so much of what the Trust has been able to achieve were things that David envisaged for the future.

His memory still burns bright, and his legacy will never be forgotten.

LM: What values and gifts have your pioneering ancestors passed down to you?
AS: I don’t consciously think about the values that have been passed down to me, but of course, you cannot be surrounded by such people without being hugely influenced by them in many ways.

One thing I do know is these people were extraordinary with such intrepid spirit, courage and bravery because those early days were not easy – one tends to gloss over those days with a romantic veneer, but the reality was it was really tough then.

Their stories are treasured, and thankfully, my mother captured many, with my grandfather talking into dozens of tapes about the old days and my mother later writing her own memoirs.

She did it for that reason alone, afraid that these incredible people and lives lived might get lost in the sands of time. This way, these unique characters still loom large in our daily lives and that of our children, and hopefully their children’s children.

I feel blessed to be in a position to make a valuable difference to the natural world each and every day, to be empowered to save lives, priceless lives, as how do you put a value on a magnificent elephant, some 60 years old, who through our Mobile Vet Units we can now save from certain death at the hands of man with timely intervention.

Standing in the presence of a slumbering monument as they sleep under anaesthetic while being treated, given a second chance, is one of the most humbling experiences anybody can have.

It feels good, very important, and extremely satisfying.  We are blessed to be able to make these small differences each and every day through the work of the Trust and our incredible teams.

In addition to making donations and sponsoring orphans, how else can the public help?
It’s important to remember that you don’t have to travel to Kenya to make a difference.

Raising awareness of the plight of wildlife and sharing news of the work of the Trust can be done from wherever you live in the world, and we deeply appreciate efforts from our supporters to help with this, as it is only through financial contributions from the concerned public that we can continue our lifesaving work.

One of the ways in which people can get involved is by following us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and sharing our posts, which include news directly from the field. We add news daily to these channels, and by sharing our posts, the impact of our message – that we can all play a role in helping wildlife – can be doubled.

LM: How much does it cost per day to keep an orphan elephant?
AS: Caring for orphaned elephants is a huge financial undertaking, and it can cost as much as $1,000 a month to care for an orphaned elephant, depending on their age. This includes ongoing costs like specialist formula milk, Keepers’ salaries, our Keepers’ canteen, uniforms, elephant supplementary feeds, equipment including tractors, water bowsers and their running/maintenance costs and more.

LM: When can the public visit DSWT?
AS: Our Nursery in Nairobi is open to the public for one hour each day between 11 am and 12 midday. During this time, the orphans arrive for their midday mud bath and feeding, and our Head Keeper explains what we do through our Orphans’ Project.

Entrance to the Nursery for the visiting hour requires a minimum contribution of $7 US dollars / 500 Kenya shillings per person (aged 4 and above).

For current foster parents only, we also offer a special visit at 5 pm where foster parents can see the orphans return to the stockades for the night and watch them have their evening milk-fed and be put to bed by our carers. This evening visit is by advance appointment only.

LM: How do I book a stay in one of the DSWT’s Eco-Lodges?
AS: Foster parents to our orphans have the opportunity to book to stay at one of our lodges near our Reintegration Units in Tsavo East National Park, namely Ithumba Camp and Ithumba Hill, or Umani Springs in the Kibwezi Forest.

Inquiries to stay at one of these lodges can be made through our office at [email protected].

Access to see the orphans at these units who are slowly being reintroduced to their wild environment is at 6 am, the 11 am feed and at 5 pm when they return to the stockades for the night.

LM: You also look after Maxwell, a blind rhino, at the Trust. How did you find him? 
AS: Maxwell was found by our keepers during one of their daily walks in Nairobi National Park with their young elephant charges.

They heard his cries and went to investigate, upon which they came across one-year-old Maxwell, who was running about aimlessly, calling for his mum.

The little calf was monitored for the rest of the day, but with no sign of his mum, it was decided that we had to intervene if we were to prevent him from falling prey to predators.

It was immediately obvious that Maxwell was blind but in good physical condition, and in the months following his rescue, we tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to restore his sight.

Sadly, surgery could not improve what turned out to be a congenital condition, and because of this, we offered him a ‘forever home’ at our Nursery since his blindness meant he could not size up his opponents during territorial disputes. He’s a very happy rhino who loves his face being stroked and a good old scratch, as well as his occasional treats of bananas.

LM: How many elephants are currently in the Trust? 
AS: The Trust is currently caring for 28 milk-dependent elephants at our Nairobi Nursery and caring for a further 52 milk-dependent orphans across our three Reintegration Units.

To date, the DSWT has successfully hand-raised more than 230 orphaned elephants, with more than 100 going on to return back to life in the wild. The Great Elephant Census estimated Kenya’s elephant population to be around 26,000 in 2017.

LM: Are they expected to stay with you for a certain period to ensure continuity of care?
AS: The DSWT employs more than 60 Kenyans as Keepers, from across the country.

Raising orphans is a long-term commitment, in some cases taking up to ten years, and so our Keepers are employed on an equally long-term basis. This is to ensure that the orphans, who have already experienced profound loss, have a continuity of care throughout their recovery and reintegration journey, which can span a decade.

None of our Keepers tends to a specific baby. Instead, the Keepers work on rotation to avoid a calf becoming too attached to any one person. This rotation system extends to overnight duties when the Keepers sleep in the orphans’ stockades so that they can continue the three-hourly milk feeds.

This prevents any detrimental effect on the babies should an individual keeper need to take time off, which is imperative as our Keepers do, of course, take annual leave so that they can spend time with their other families!

By rotating the Keepers, we, therefore, prevent any negative impact that could otherwise arise from a temporary separation.  As orphans, all of the babies are emotionally fragile, and so we ensure they have a loving family of keepers to provide continuity of care as a team.

LM: How many reintegration centres are there in Tsavo? 
AS: The DSWT operates three Reintegration Units in the Greater Tsavo Area. Two are located within Tsavo East National Park (Voi and Ithumba), which offer orphaned elephants an incredible and vast untouched wilderness in which to roam.

It’s also home to Kenya’s largest elephant population and is fully protected by ten DSWT/KWS De-Snaring Teams, our Canine Unit and our Aerial Surveillance. We typically move orphaned elephants from our Nursery to one of our three Reintegration Units when they reach the age of three.

The environment in Tsavo, however, is unsuitable for orphans who have come into our care suffering serious and debilitating injuries – most of these inflicted at the hands of humans before their rescue.

As such, in 2014, we built a third Reintegration Unit in the Kibwezi Forest for vulnerable orphans needing a gentler environment in which to reintegrate back into the wild.

LM: You also run anti-poaching units in Tsavo, mobile veterinary units, de-snaring and community outreach projects. How do you fund this?
AS: All of our conservation projects are funded by voluntary donations, with our digital foster program being one of our main sources of income.

Through this program, an individual can choose to foster an orphan in our care for as little as $50 a year, enabling us to undertake our life-saving projects in Kenya. As well as donations from individuals, trusts and foundations also provide financial support for our work as do select corporate partners. We are not funded in any way by any government.

LM: What action does the Trust take to combat poaching?
AS: The DSWT operates 11 De-Snaring Teams across Kenya (10 in Tsavo and 1 in Meru National Park) alongside our Canine Unit and Aerial Surveillance.

These field teams undertake a multitude of activities to combat poaching, including working with communities to gain intelligence, undertaking deterrence patrols, setting ambushes and apprehending poaching suspects.

These field teams have been hugely successful, and over a three-year period, we saw a 50% decrease in poaching within Tsavo.

The ‘boots on the ground’ presence of field teams like these is vitally important to ending poaching, but if it is to be completely eradicated, these efforts must also be matched by a sustained commitment at the policing and judicial level to prosecute and correctly sentence those found guilty of wildlife crime.

When the punishment does not outweigh the risk, there will always be an incentive to commit wildlife crime. The DSWT works with local communities living on the borders of the Tsavo National Parks to improve livelihoods and educational standards and, importantly, instil an awareness and passion for the environment.

LM: Do you foresee a time when the demand for ivory will diminish? 
AS: We have every reason to hold fast to this hope, as we have seen and lived through it before. After a ban on international trade in ivory in 1989, the world saw a marked decrease in demand for ivory and correspondingly in poaching too, and elephant populations rebounded in many areas.

In fact, by 2004 in China, only two ivory carving factories remained, demonstrating the impact the ban had on demand.

In recent years, consumer education campaigns in places like China look to be having some effect, and, in a positive step, at the beginning of this year, China’s own ban on ivory and ivory products came into force.

Though its impact is yet to be determined, China’s ban has the potential to be the saviour of elephants if proper regulation, continued education campaigns and stiff law enforcement are maintained in alignment.

We are mindful, though, that reducing demand by itself will not solve the problem. Drivers for poaching include poverty and corruption, as well as ineffective and lax sentencing. Without addressing these causes, the killing of elephants will continue.

LM: What can be done to reduce the value of ivory?
AS: We firmly believe that ivory has no value to anyone other than a living elephant and that no human has a need for ivory. As such, as a charity, we strongly advise none of our supporters to purchase a product made of ivory.

However, we don’t think the conversation about how to save elephants should focus on the price of ivory. Bringing down the price of ivory will not solve poaching in itself – reducing demand, increasing political will, enacting stiffer laws and deterrents and increasing the funding for boots-on-the-ground operations will together have a stronger impact.

LM: How can we re-educate consumers?
AS: This is something NGOs local to China and other countries have been focusing on for many years with some success. For instance, previous studies once found that 70% of Chinese individuals polled did not know that ivory came from dead elephants since the Chinese word for elephant ivory was elephant tooth, giving the impression that tusks fell out like teeth.

Educational campaigns since then have sought to address this, utilising celebrities to spread the message that ivory comes from dead elephants. However, given that the US is reportedly one of the largest ivory markets outside of China and the UK is the largest exporter of legal ivory, there is clearly more that can be done inside these countries, too, to end demand.

The UK Government, for instance, promised to ban its own domestic trade many years ago, but action has been extremely slow.

LM: Why is ivory still in high demand?
AS: Very sadly, alongside elephant poaching, rhino poaching has escalated also, driven by demand in Asian countries, particularly Vietnam.

Though rhinos were poached in the 1970s and ’80s for ornamental handles for daggers, this particular market is accounting for fewer and fewer poaching incidents, with far more rhino horns now being poached to supply the market for traditional medicine.

Made of Keratin, the same substance as our own fingernails, there is no scientific evidence for what medicinal purpose it serves, though it is touted as a hangover cure, cancer treatment and more.

LM: What cultural misunderstandings are there regarding ivory?
AS: It should be noted that there are several harmful myths about rhino horn in the West, and promoting them is only encouraging the further killing of rhinos.  These are myths that need to be busted.

For instance, the belief that rhino horn is used as an aphrodisiac and sexual stimulant in Asia was rooted in a misunderstanding by Western media – there is little history of this use of rhino horn occurring in Asia.

However, after it was incorrectly alleged by the media that this was one of the reasons rhino horn was being consumed in Asia, people in Vietnam started to believe the rumour, leading to increased use.

LM: Kenya has a hunting ban and doesn’t give out licences. What are your thoughts on trophy hunting?
AS: An elephant has more value alive than dead, and we at the Trust believe we can successfully conserve wildlife without hunting individuals.

Despite the propaganda, evidence that trophy hunting supports conservation (or that the funds filter down to local communities) is actually very thin, especially in comparison to ethical practices such as photography safaris and wildlife tourism.

LM: Is there political support in Kenya for wildlife conservation? 
AS: In recent years, we have seen political support for wildlife and an appetite to do more to protect our flora and fauna. In 2013, civil society, corporations, government agencies and other conservation launched the Hands off our Elephants campaign to raise awareness of poaching and its impact.

This campaign has been supported by Her Excellency Margaret Kenyatta, the First Lady of Kenya, who is a patron of the campaign.

It is worth noting that prior to 2012, ineffective laws for wildlife crime contributed to the poaching crisis the country was facing. In 2014, the Wildlife Act came into force, which provides for stiffer sentences.

Now, poachers and dealers in illegal animal trophies face life imprisonment and a fine of more than Sh20 million.

Photo Credit: All images used in this article are strictly Copyright The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust – Where and How

www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org

Kenya: PO Box 15555, Mbagathi, 00503, Nairobi, Kenya
Email: [email protected]
Telephone:  +254 (0) 202 301 396
+254 (0) 733 891 996

UK: 2nd Floor, 3 Bridge Street, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 8BL
Phone: +44 (0) 1372 378 321

USA: 25283 Cabot Road, Suite 101, Laguna Hills, CA 92653
Phone: +1 (949) 305-3785