Living with the wild in the wild

Occasionally mothers will abandon their young ones for one reason or another; the mother might be unexperienced and abandons its calf or she has fallen prey to some predator making the baby an orphan.

It is never easy to know what to do in such a situation as often you do not know the correct circumstances regarding it being alone. What if the mother is somewhere close but hiding out of fear of humans? Or it might be away feeding telling the baby to "stay put!" So to leave it, hope for its mother to return is one option. But if in reasonable doubt, do you take it with you, knowing it might not be able to fend for itself in the wild as it grows up, "dooming"it to be semi domesticated? There are pros and cons depending on the specie involved so each situation must be evaluated in an individual way.

The other day we were faced with such a situation in camp. As the guides returned from their evening game drive they found a small Bush buck calf in the workshop. Being after dark, and a busy mecanical workshop not being a likely hidingplace for the shy antelope the staff decided to bring her to me.I called her Ariel, and as you can see I made my best to make her feel comfortable: a hot water bottle, pillows, shade and leaves to hide behind...

Ariel was weak and easy to handle and after some initial confusion she accepted the diluted cows milk I fed her with a pipette. The next day she seemed stronger and even came along for a short walk!

Young bucks need company so I took her with me to the studio where she seemed to have picked up strength from the previous day...


She had met with the dogs the day before and did not seem to mind them - she even tried to suckle Embe! (here seen in the background).

Unfortunately later that evening she all of a sudden seemed weaker. She made calling sounds, and even if I tried to figure out what to do she just grew weaker, so I let her into her box again hoping she just needed to rest. Alas. when I came back from dinner she had gone.

It was a blessing to have her for the few days she lived. It made me realize how prescious these little lives are, and how hard work it is for creatures of the wild to rear their young ones. It made me admire and respect even more those fortunate creatures that make it into adulthood. And it also reminds me how important it is to make sure we make space for our wildlife in our lives.