A Woman Rescued a Baby Elephant, and Now He Loves Her So Much He Follows Her Everywhere

People usually have pets like cats, dogs, parrots, turtles, or fish, but how often do you see someone with a pet elephant? These majestic creatures belong to the wild, but one little fella found his way into the home of a kind woman, and they became the best friends.

We at Bright Side were thrilled to learn all about the unusual friendship of a baby elephant and a woman, and the story of how they wound up together is something really special.

Roxy Danckwerts is the founder of Wild Is Life, which is an animal sanctuary in Zimbabwe. And one day, while working, she stumbled upon a baby elephant that seemed to be lost and separated from its herd. The small baby elephant almost drowned in a river while the herd was trying to cross it, and its health was in critical condition.

The baby elephant was found at the shores of Lake Kariba, and the efforts to find his herd were in vain because there were no elephants in the area. At that time, the elephant was just a few days old, fragile, scared, and separated from its family. Roxy decided to nurse the elephant back to health, but what she didn’t expect was for the 2 of them to become best friends.

The baby elephant was rescued in February of 2014 and was very underweight when they first found him, weighing only 56 kg, and normally an African elephant calf is supposed to weigh around 90 — 100 kg. Furthermore, due to the trauma he suffered, the first few weeks of his life were very challenging, and it was a miracle that he even survived at all.

Roxy spent a lot of time with the baby elephant, giving the baby 18 liters of specialized formula every day. They spent a lot of time together, and Roxy even slept with him, so it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that he became so fond of Roxy and now follows her everywhere she goes.

The baby elephant is now 5-years-old and growing up fast. His name is Moyo, which in African translates to “Of The Heart.” Moyo has become so attached to his savior Roxy, that he sees her as a second mother and doesn’t let her out of his sight. That’s very sweet and all, but someone should tell Moyo that he’s growing pretty fast and that the house doesn’t really fit him anymore.

While there’s plenty of room for him to go play outside in the wildlife sanctuary, Moyo seems to be enjoying life inside the house and doesn’t really care for outside activities. The cute elephant regularly visits the kitchen, munching on peanuts, brownies, salt, and he also seems to be really into silverware.

The fact that Moyo almost drowned while crossing the river left the poor elephant with a great deal of trauma and a fear of swimming. However, his caring guardian Roxy has been there the whole time, to help Moyo recuperate, and after 15-months of therapy, Moyo was finally able to overcome his fear of swimming.

And with the selfless help of the people at the Zimbabwe sanctuary, Moyo and other orphaned and injured animals like him get special care and lots of love and attention to overcome their fears and traumas.

Roxy’s undivided love and attention helped Moyo grow up to be a healthy and happy elephant.

Do you agree that the world needs more people like Roxy? What do you think of her bond with Moyo? Tell us all about it in the comment section.