Martin Ssebuyira
11 December 2011
Conservationists under the Pearl of Africa Tours and Travel Limited in conjunction with the Uganda Wildlife Educational Centre (Uwec) have launched a drive to raise money for the six-month-old orphaned baby elephant recently rescued from Queen Elizabeth National Park. The new scheme dubbed ‘Smile for Conservation’ would see people take a photo with gorillas at a fee to aid the baby elephant named Charles Hamukungu.
Picture for cash
“For a donation of Shs5,000, visitors to Oasis Mall can have their photo taken with Pearl of Africa gorilla. This is a great fun incentive to keep children quiet while you are out shopping,” Ms Kelley Mac Tavish-Munger said at the launch of the campaign at Nakumatt on Friday. She said all proceeds from the gorilla photos will go into supporting the baby elephant. The photos will also be posted on Facebook.
Ms Tavish-Munger urged people to raise funds for this generous cause or purchase a 900-gramme tin of SMA infant formula and drop it at Pearl of Africa reservations offices on the lower ground of Nakumatt, Oasis Mall, in Kampala.
Ms Belinda Atim, the Uwec spokesperson and marketing manager, said the baby elephant drinks up to 15 litres of milk a day, a mixture of human baby formula milk (SMA) and fresh diary UHT milk. “He loves human companion and drinks 10 litres of water when thirsty,” she said.
Brilliant animal
The Uwec Executive Director, Mr James Musinguzi, said the baby elephant has become an additional brilliant animal ‘behind the scenes’ tour at the centre for $50 (about Shs125,000).
The elephant, Hamukungu, was brought to Uwec at the tender age of one week. According to Uwec, fishermen of Hamukungu fishing village found him abandoned on the shores of an island on Lake George trying to swim. Since there were no other elephants nearby, and the baby was about to drown, the rescuers decided to load him on their canoe and paddle him to Hamukungu.
According to Ms Atim, two days after the dramatic marine rescue, the carcass of an adult male elephant with six bullet wounds to the head and thoracic regions, was found submerged in the vicinity of the same island. Uwec officials said ivory poachers may have scared the elephant family away leaving behind the newborn baby.
AllAfrica – All the Time