GABORONE, June 5 (Xinhua) -- At least 12 orphaned elephants have been reintroduced into the wild, after spending years under care at Elephant Havens, an orphanage center in the northern part of Botswana.
Akanyang Mosabata, the senior elephant handler at the orphanage center, on Wednesday told Xinhua in an interview on the phone that the elephants were abandoned as babies when they were not able to survive on their own.
"We are happy that they are coping well and are easily adapting to the wilderness," said Mosabata, adding that the orphaned elephants were moved to soft release areas as a herd for about 10 years where they learned to explore, forage and play together without constantly interacting with their handlers.
The released elephants were tagged with a tracking collar, a means of artificial intelligence when it comes to monitoring and analyzing the mammal animals' behavior, for easy identification, according to Mosabata.
Founded in 2017, Elephant Havens is believed to be the only elephant orphanage in the southern African country. Nestled along the Gomoti River banks at the edge of the Okavango Delta, the orphanage offers daily care and companionship for orphaned baby elephants. ■