Goat Milk Saving Lives

Sometimes a solution to a deadly problem is in your backyard

One service the Retiti Elephant Sanctuary in Norther Kenya has provided for years, is taking in and raising orphaned or abandoned baby elephant calves. This used to be done by using powdered formula (what humans sometimes use for their infant) but this was problematic on a few levels:

• The powdered formula is hard to digest and doesn’t have the same taste or smell (obviously) as that of a elephant parent.

• Powered milk isn’t manufactured in or near Kenya so it’s costly.

• When COVID hit and supply chains were impacted, the formula flow faltered (alliteration!)

It was during this time of supply unease that some of the people at Retiti noticed that goats had the same eating patterns and habits of elephants.

Voila.

They tried using goat milk to nourish the calves instead of the powdered formula and the results were (and are) excellent, with the most vulnerable The results have been impressive with survival rates at a much higher rate for the sanctuary’s youngest and most vulnerable elephants.

Necessity, again let it be said, is the mother of invention (is that a pun in this context?) and in this case it has saved lives.

That’s good.

(REUTERS/Baz Ratner)

More details and goodness after the break.