Elephant Release

This is just a peek at an elephant release I witnessed this week. Our game farm received an elephant they were "owed" by another local farm. This large truck carried the elephant in an interior compartment which prevents the elephant from stomping around too much. The compartment is open at the top, as you can see by the tree sticking out (elephant fodder!). Of course the elephant was sedated and he left the truck very slowly. When releasing an animal into the "wild" they first put them into a barbed wire enclosed area to get used to the new land before introducing them to the farm at-large. This particular fenced in area must be at least 2 acres. It's the closest I've been able to get to an elephant since I've been here. There are about 40 elephants total, but only about 6 bulls, so this new male addition will benefit the population greatly. Because the farm is so large, the elephants seem to hide away quite a bit so it was a real treat to get to watch this fella.