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Kenya’s Mouthful of Alfalfa

December 1, 2025

Lately, when caregivers leave hay for Kenya at meal times, she has started picking up the whole batch and carrying it to whatever spot she’s decided is the best eating place for that moment. Often, we walk with the elephants along the opposite side of the fence, leading them a short length down to encourage mixing the day up a bit; that way, they can have different things to do in varying places from one afternoon to the next. 

Kenya especially likes to pick up all of her breakfast at once, no matter how much there appears to be. In this video, she’s walking to the mud wallow with a huge trunkful of hay, plus some stashed just under her only existing tusk. On a few instances, she’s also placed a flake on her head and another in her mouth, just to tote more from one spot to another. She’s quite efficient in packing things up and drops very little during the moving process. 

P.S.: Kenya is walking much better lately. Her front right foot seems less tender and she’s putting more weight on it now. Some of you have expressed concern that she occasionally stands in a posture with that foot lifted up. While it’s possible that she does feel some sensitivity on her right foot, that’s also a common posture for African elephants. You might remember Pupy doing the same thing during her time here. (See the photo below for an example.) At this point, Kenya’s two back feet are in serious need of care. The pads are severely overgrown and the small sections of nail we’ve been able to trim so far are hollow, which suggests that layers of infection are present. Her back feet have had no maintenance at all for the entirety of her 45 years, and what we’ve seen is far from normal. We’ll update more as time goes on, but there’s a lot of room for improvement at this point.

Female African elephant Pupy stands in profile with her left front wrist cocked at a frontward angle. She stands in the middle of tall green grass.P.P.S: Tomorrow is GivingTuesday and we’re raising funds to expand the female Asian habitat. Our goal is $150,000 and there’s a match for the first $75,000! Read more about our initiative here and look for more information tomorrow!

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Comments(10)

  1. REPLY
    Johnny says
    December 1, 2025 at 2:07 pm

    The girl obviously loves alfalfa! Look at that tail go. Thanks for the video.

  2. REPLY
    Doe Fowler says
    December 1, 2025 at 4:57 pm

    Who doesn’t love a good meal “to go”?! Kenya, I hope your “kicks” continue to improve with all the expert care you receive. Love you! 🐘❣️

  3. REPLY
    Gigi says
    December 1, 2025 at 5:39 pm

    Beautiful Kenya! I would like to ask a question: How should she present her hind legs so that you can give her care? Should she stand with her back to the barrier and rest her foot against it, just as she rests her front foot against it?
    If her back feet haven’t received any care in 45 years, it must be quite difficult to teach her this posture…I sincerely hope you can slow down this disease for as long as possible…
    Kenya, I want you to enjoy the sanctuary and live a very, very long life!
    Angel Pupy, we missed you! xxx

    • REPLY
      Sara says
      December 1, 2025 at 5:43 pm

      It does take some time, but once they get used to the concept, it’s not too hard. Most of the time, they want to learn because they get extra treats at checkups. Here’s a video of Bambi presenting her back feet.

      https://globalelephants.org/from-nicole-bambis-footwork/

      • Gigi says
        December 1, 2025 at 6:16 pm

        Wow! Thank you for that video! I’m always surprised to see that they have a certain degree of flexibility… and, it’s wonderful to see all that you do for them. Thank you so much!

  4. REPLY
    Terry says
    December 1, 2025 at 10:57 pm

    The resilence of Kenya and all the captive elephants is amazing. I hope one day, they all will be free! I just read that Canada has just done so for the captive elephants there. Such great news.

    Still no results regarding Pupys necropsy?

    • REPLY
      Sara says
      December 1, 2025 at 11:01 pm

      We are still waiting on test results. It can take months to get the data, but we’ll share when we know more.

      • Bonnie says
        December 2, 2025 at 1:57 am

        Kenya looking good Sara has she been ok

      • Sara says
        December 2, 2025 at 12:04 pm

        Her mood is very good and she has a great attitude. Of course, her feet are going to need lots of work for the rest of her life, but she’s opening up to treatment and being a real rockstar.

      • Terry says
        December 2, 2025 at 12:19 pm

        Thank you again Sara. I just wanted to make sure I have not missed it…again.😁

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