Wildlife is a precious gift from God for this planet, and our mission is to help preserve extinct animals. That’s exactly what Roxy Danckwerts did. In 2016, a baby elephant named Moyo was found, separated from her herd and almost drowning in a river in Zimbabwe. She was rescued and was treated at a sanctuary, “Wild is Life”, founded by Roxy Danckwerts.
“Wild is Life”, is a sanctuary that has an elephant nursery and little Moyo was one of their tiniest rescues, weighing only 56 kilos which is less for her age because an average calf weighs 90 kilos. Moyo was very frail and sickly when the sanctuary took her in. She would spend her entire day with Roxy, and Roxy would sleep next to the scared little calf tending to her needs. This made Moyo trust Roxy.
After 14 months, The Dodo did an article. She was then found to be loving and caring towards Roxy, following her everywhere even her house and eventually forgetting how big she was. Roxy even had a photo of herself, Moyo and her pet puppy. Moyo has now conquered her biggest fear: swimming and what’s interesting are that swimming comes naturally to African elephants, but because Moyo suffered from the trauma she forgot this life skill, but now she has got the hang of it and she’s loving it!. Shes now quite the ambassador for nursery and leads her fellow orphaned elephants.
BBC first featured her as one of the Miracle Orphans. Roxy confessed that letting go of Moyo would be quite difficult for her because of the good times they’ve shared. One of the biggest threats elephants face is the ivory trade and Moyo played a vital role in persuading President Xi, who loved meeting this bundle of joy. China banned the legal trade in ivory in late 2017. But it still continues under the radar.
Elephants are among the most intelligent of the creatures with whom we share the planet. The world needs to unite like never before if we want to save our remaining elephants. Let’s hope for a better tomorrow where such beautiful creatures are not slaughtered for illegal trade.
Nethmi Jayatilleke is a University Undergraduate by day and Freelance Content Writer by night. An avid lover of music, theatre and poetry, Nethze (Her Nickname) considers herself to be a professional procrastinator. She loves adventure, wildlife and is a caffeine dependent. Nethmi enjoys writing articles ranging from serious topics like politics and social issues to more lighthearted things like art, pop culture, and nature. In her spare time, nethmi loves writing food reviews and poetry.
