Ellie the elephant had a pretty tough start to life after he was rejected by his herd at just a few hours old.

He was given little chance of survival.

But, the little elephant has rallied thanks to round-the-clock care from staff at South Africa’s Thula Thula Rhino Orphanage, and the friendship of a dog called Duma.


After he was found on his own in a very poorly condition back in September, and following numerous attempts to reunite him with his family, Ellie went to live at the Rhino orphanage.

He received months of care from Karen Trendler and her staff at the orphanage for various life-threatening infections, documented by Earth Touch.

Ellie catches some Zzzs (Picture: Karen Trendler/Facebook)

But, while they managed to nurse his body back to health, the lonely little elephant couldn’t be lifted out of his funk (elephants are notoriously sociable animals).



Until the arrival of former service and sniffer dog, Duma.

The two met in the sand pit and, Karen recalls, ‘it had a massive impact on the elephant in that he suddenly started getting a little bit of interest in life again’.

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Ellie is now very much on the road to recovery. With Duma at his side of course.

Read Ellie’s full story here.

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