August 12 is the 11th World Elephant Day and the 7th birthday of the baby elephant "Sheep Lady". Wearing a garland, circling around the 7-storey "cake", looking at more than 20 kinds of favorite fruits, the "sheep girl" happily shakes her head and tail, and the "elephant daddy" is celebrating the festival for it and its friends.
This scene occurred at the Asian Elephant Breeding and Rescue Center in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. The baby elephants, who were once physically and mentally traumatized, are now growing up happily under the care of the "elephant fathers".
"Full-time like dad", accompanied day and night
Hook the hand of "Like Daddy" with his nose, rub his head and body... This is the tacit understanding between "Yang Yu" and Chen Jiming and other "elephant fathers".
The now strong "sheep girl" was covered in scars when she was found in the wild. On August 17, 2015, Chen Jiming met the "sheep girl" who was born less than a week ago. "At that time, it was suppurated from the wound, dying, and went into shock 3 times during the transfer." Chen Jiming said that after the all-weather rescue of experts and the careful care of the "elephant fathers", the "sheep girl" finally recovered.
What worries him is that in May 2021, when he went up the mountain to train, the "sheep girl" fell on her feet again. Since then, Chen Jiming and the other 3 "elephant fathers" have been inseparable for 24 hours, and when they sleep at night, they stay by the side of the "sheep girl" all night. Chen Jiming said that because of his heartache for "Sheep Girl", he quietly wiped away tears many times.
"Every day, I milk the 'sheep girl' and feed it in one mouthful." Chen Jiming said with a smile that the little guys who were not as tall as his waist at the beginning have now grown into "big girls" of one meter and eight meters.
It is not only Chen Jiming who is worried about the life and health of the baby elephant. At present, there are 32 "elephant dads" in the rescue center, who spend more than 10 hours a day with baby elephants, cleaning up feces and bathing them; For lactating young elephants, they are fed every 0.5-2 hours. Over time, they understand the personality of each elephant, and the "spiritual" baby elephant also expresses gratitude to the "elephant father" from the movement and voice.
On July 28, "Elephant Daddy" took baby elephants up the mountain. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Wenyao
"Private doctor", professional care
What should I do if the baby elephant is sick? Will there be regular check-ups? The answer is yes. "Elephant Daddy" customized a health monitoring book for each elephant: "July 26, Dragon Dragon, Food: 1 pound of elephant grass, 10 bananas, body temperature: 36.5 degrees Celsius..." These data can help "Elephant Daddy" to detect abnormalities in time.
"Elephants can be more accurately measured with a temperature gun, and adult elephants exceed 37 degrees Celsius to have a fever." "Like Dad" Xiong Chaoyong said that continuously improving the scientific and professional nature of care is the common goal of him and his colleagues. At present, the rescue center has 1 senior veterinarian, 1 intermediate veterinarian and 3 assistant veterinarians, who can assist the elephant doctor in seeing the elephant.
Elephant health monitoring. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Mingyu
But when there is an emergency, the elephant doctor has to come out. "Elephant Daddy" Bao Mingwei created his own pipepipe to anesthetize elephants, which can anesthetize elephants at a distance of 20 meters, solving the difficulty of elephant anesthesia in the wild, and he has used this method to rescue wild elephants more than 20 times. In July last year, Bao Mingwei used this method to participate in anesthesia work, sending a small elephant from the north elephant herd that was separated from the collective back to his "hometown" Xishuangbanna.
In addition, Bao Mingwei and his team have also studied Asian elephant breeding technology, and have successfully bred 9 baby elephants through artificial assistance.
"Nature teacher", sowing the seeds of love
If rescuing and breeding Asian elephants is the work of "elephant dads", then protecting Asian elephants is a topic of national participation. Nowadays, more and more people are walking into the wild elephant valley with curiosity about elephants, and "elephant fathers" are part-time "nature teachers" to popularize Asian elephant knowledge for the public.
"Do elephants only eat grass?" Is it shaking the ground when you walk? "Their recipes are sumptuous and their walking sounds are light." Yang Tao, the research instructor of Wild Elephant Valley, has led hundreds of Asian elephant science popularization activities so far. "Now the public is more aware of elephant conservation and more identified with our profession." He said it made him proud and confident in the protection of Asian elephants.
On July 28, "Elephant Daddy" Chen Jiming stroked the baby elephant. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Wenyao
"When I heard stories of elephants injured and sick, some children cried in class." Chen Jiming said that after a while, the children would call him to ask him if the elephants had recovered, and they would use pocket money to buy food for the elephants, like caring for friends.
"We' elephant dads want to take care of them and bring them back to nature, because that's where they are." Chen Jiming said that at present, the rescue center is exploring the path of successful repatriation through the field adaptation training of Asian elephants, and finally realizing that the human elephants have their own place and their own well-being.
Co-ordinator: Wu Xiaoyang
Text reporters: Zhao Peiran, Wang Mingyu
Editors: Chen Hongyi, Liu Zitong