Close up of the eye of a Rothchild's giraffe in the rehabilitation and breeding Giraffe Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, run by the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife.
We have a duty of care to this planet and all things within it. One we ignore. One we exploit. One we take for granted. Humans can be callus. Mean. Unthoughtful and soulless. We take and don't give back. We disregard and distrust. We overpower and threaten that which we don't understand. We destroy what we fail to see. Size becomes no object and giants become vulnerable to our greed. We make boundaries where previously none existed. We take what is not rightfully ours and use it for material gains. We'll kill to commercialise and will divert the course of nature to suit our habitats and families. We'll do all of this to a species who cannot protect itself from our weapons. A species that cannot understand a failure to love. A species that we cannot explain our actions too. One that trusts us yet never forgets our actions. One which we create create endless orphans for.
I witnessed bonds between human and elephant that brought healing to these vulnerable giants, that helped to ease their pain and which taught them to trust again. I witnessed a great patience from both animal and keeper. We observed a relationship which grew in the face of adversity and was strong enough to encourage the orphans to start interacting with human strangers
