On World Elephant Day, we are excited to launch a print sale and an exclusive sweepstakes by National Geographic photographer Ami Vitale.

This is the story of three young elephants that is as heart-breaking as it is heart-warming, and a true testament to the strength of community conservation and partnerships.

We were recently honored to host musician Dave Matthews at Reteti Elephant Sanctuary. We are thrilled to be able to share this breathtaking Ami Vitale film about his visit and the incredible impact Reteti and community-based conservation are having on northern Kenya

This post is a cross post from Conservation International‘s blog. In it, Human Nature’s Leah Duran spoke with Reteti co-founder Katie Rowe, recently nominated for the Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award.

It is with great joy and profound gratitude that we share with you the inaugural issue of The Reteti Elephant Report. It features stories of the amazing elephants at Reteti, the incredible people who care for them and the major successes and conservation gains we have made this past year.

Reteti Elephant Sanctuary has welcomed another elephant into its fold. He is an eight-month old male calf. His name is Loisaba, in honor of the conservancy who brought him to us. This is how he came to live at Reteti:

When little Bawa came to us, he was hovering between life and death. He was at most two-weeks-old. He had been stuck and submerged in the mud near Maralal for a long time.

The keepers started to hear lots of grumbling and rumbling. The little baby elephant the herd was looking after, perked up and started grumbling and rumbling, and then the keepers knew that this was his herd! They knew that, with all the communication that was going on, this was his mum!

On the 10th November 2016, at 15 months old she was collected by helicopter from Shaba National reserve where her mother had been shot dead, very accurately in the head by poachers. We assume it was a poacher as the evidence of the accurate killer shot to the head.

For a great portion of Northern Kenya, the people and wildlife live side by side, sharing grasslands, forests, and water sources on community owned land.

Late last night, word came in that a female elephant had been shot and wounded and that there were two young elephants with her who needed rescue. A lot of work is done to ensure that elephants that are rescued are actually orphans and not temporarily abandoned.