Orphaned Elephant, Baby Moses, Finds Home

We are used to having our dogs and cats cuddling up on our laps. Jenny Webb has a baby elephant sitting on her lap. Back in January, in south eastern Africa, a week old elephant was abandoned. His mother was presumed dead because these gentle giants do not normally abandon their young. She was most likely a victim of increasing poaching for ivory.

Baby Moses was found in the Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve in the land-locked country of Malawi. An orphaned baby elephant only has a 10% chance of survival in the wild. Nobody wanted to take this baby in because it is too expensive and time consuming to raise elephants. Jenny Webb stepped up though, and came forward to take Moses under her wing.

For the past seven and a half months, 48-year-old Jenny Webb has been taking care of the baby elephant. Moses was named by the rangers who found him in the grasses of a riverbed. “Humans caused this problem so humans must fix the problem,” said Jenny about her decision to bring Moses to her home in Lilongwe, Malawi.

True to her word, Jenny, who spent most of her life caring for rescued animals, became a mother to Moses. She keeps him in her living room where he sleeps, eats and plays with her other animals. She curls up next to him on a mattress in the dining room every night, waking up every two hours to bottle feed him milk formula. She hired two employees to take care of him during the day when she goes to work as the Director of the Malawi Division of Food Products. Juggling both her jobs is tough, but worth it when the reward is a loving and healthy elephant.

Just like any baby, elephant Moses needs 24-hour companionship. He has to be fed every two hours. Moses will begin to eat hay, grass, bark and horse feed at the age of one, but will be on milk until he is four. He weighs 220 pounds and drinks 6.3 gallons of a milk formula that is boosted with coconut milk and other nutrient rich ingredients each day.

Courtesy of Jumbo Foundation/Jenny Webb

Baby Moses is bottle fed milk formula every two hours.

In the wild, his mother would keep him under her tummy for the first year. She’d protect him from the sun during the day as an umbrella and cool him with water when it’s too hot. To emulate similar conditions, Jenny puts a blanket on the baby’s back during the day, along with sunscreen and creams on his skin to protect him from the harsh African sun. In the wild, he would have gotten natural oils from his mom as his skin rubbed against her belly.

At night, a sheet replaces his mom’s body warmth. Of course, Jenny, being his human mother, never leaves his side at night. “He had nightmares and woke up crying – elephants are one of a few animals that cry real tears of emotion,” said Jenny about the early months.

“Elephants are very sensitive and pick up on your emotions, if you are sad they comfort you, if you are stressed they are tense, if you are ill they are loving,” Jenny said. Moses has different rumbles for different members of the family, soft ones for females and louder ones for males. “He is so gentle with my granddaughter, Catherine,” she said.

Courtesy of Jumbo Foundation/Jenny Webb

Elephant Moses with one of his new best friends.

Moses might be away from his real family, but he now has plenty of friends. Between Jenny and her daughter Louise who lives next door with her six-week old baby Catherine, they care for five dogs, three cats, two African wild cats, nine horses and a donkey. “The dogs are his buddies but the cats are his best friends. Our dogs are so used to new animals so they were cool with him – but he is boss dog,” said Jenny of Moses and his new herd members.

Moses, similar to elephant babies in the wild, is energetic and playful. He loves playing in the dust and getting dirty. He enjoys his little pool. He looks forward to his daily walks. “He starts grunting to call you when it is time,” said Jenny. “He has more toys than Catherine at the moment. He is the same as a toddler, needs lots of stimulation. He has natural toys like sticks and basically anything a human toddler would play with,”  said Jenny’s daughter Louise.

Courtesy of Jumbo Foundation/Jenny Webb

Baby Moses helping feed six-week-old Jenny Webb's granddaughter Catherine.

While Moses doesn’t have any elephants to interact with at the moment, Jenny said, “Unfortunately for elephants and fortunately for Moses with the current poaching in Africa it won’t be too long before another orphan joins him.” Jenny seeks advice from veterinarians and from the Elephant Orphanage Project in Zambia whenever she needs help.

Jenny has created the Jumbo Foundation Elephant Orphanage to continue serving Moses and take in other orphaned large animals. “Moses has become an ambassador for elephants and has helped us educate many people about them. Our orphanage is not only for elephants but all large animals like hippos, buffalos, rhinos, as no one will take them in,” said Jenny.

Jumbo Foundation is seeking donations to build a barn for Moses. In another year, he won’t be able to fit through the door of the living room. He will be released into the wild after an extensive rehabilitation program at the age of four. “As heart-breaking as it is for us to release the animals we know, it is better for the animal,” said Jenny. Moses will be tagged and tracked for the rest of his life to keep him and his new family safe.

Jumbo Foundation Elephant Orphanage is the first of its kind in the country of Malawi. a

To learn more about Moses and the foundation, please visit Moses’s Facebook page at: Jumbo Foundation. An adorable video of baby Moses can be seen below!