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Sassy’s Return and Ongoing Care

October 21, 2025

For a couple days in a row, the sanctuary staff saw a tapir on the property who was limping, but she ran every time someone tried to get close enough to take a video. There are estimated to be at least 20 wild tapirs who live on the property and a few have been part of our rehabilitation and release program. Eventually, we found former resident Sassy lying in the pond in Yard 5, which was in the process of being cleaned, so the water wasn’t very deep. Sassy was released over 6 years ago, but returned a couple of years after with wounds that suggested she was attacked by a pack of dogs. After that, she would bring her babies through the office yard, mostly when the mango trees were dropping fruit, although always at night when all of the employees were gone. On this occasion, she seemed like she didn’t want to leave the pond, so we got the sense that something was really wrong. 

We cautiously approached her to toss her an apple with some oral anti-inflammatories. She remained calm, so we attempted to administer an antibiotic injection in case there was any infection present. She didn’t particularly enjoy being stuck with a needle and stood up. At that point, we could see that either bone or tendon was exposed above her foot, so we knew the only way to properly care for her was to sedate her. That’s not something we take lightly, but since she didn’t try to run away with the first injection, we hoped to be able to find out how severe her injuries were, and this was the only way. Tapirs are large and can weigh 300 kilos (over 650 pounds), so once she was sedated, we had to carefully lift her onto a tarp to get her out of the pond and use the backhoe to gently carry her up the hill to the wildlife treatment area. 

The care team found that Sassy did in fact have exposed bone, so we cleaned, medicated, and bandaged her wound, gave her some additional injections, and put her in one of the wildlife enclosures to wake up. A couple of days later, Dr. Luciana (the horse veterinarian who comes for checkups every two weeks) and Dr. Mateus sedated her again to surgically debride the wound and take x-rays to show the extent of her injury. They found that the exposed bone had an infection, so taking care of the wound itself would not truly fix the problem. The team discussed options and shared her radiographs with some specialists and, because it didn’t appear the infection had spread, decided to have an orthopedist come to remove the infected bone to give her a chance at recovery and release. Everyone came up with a post-surgical treatment plan that also included figuring out how to clean and medicate a wild 300 kg tapir for the next two months.

Scott and the maintenance team designed and built Sassy her own restraint chute in the rehabilitation center, so we have a safe place to treat her. It goes from one interior section to the other, so she just easily walks through, we close a divider gate, and then feed her while her wound is cleaned and medicated, and gets treated with cold laser therapy. She receives oral anti-inflammatories and antibiotics to help with discomfort and healing. She does really well with her new routine, and a few days after surgery, also gained access to an outdoor area. The hope is that she will heal, that the infection resolves, and that she can be re-released. Tapir bodies are incredibly impressive in how quickly they heal, but it will take time to truly know if she can be self-sufficient in the wild. She’ll be with us for at least a couple of months, since she will need to be on antibiotics for 60 days. If the bones are free and clear of infection, she’ll have a good shot. It was special to see our entire team come together to try to help a wild animal in need, and to have them asking about her recovery along the way. Sassy is a strong and stubborn girl (hence the name) and we are going to work to give her the ability to return to her real home, ready to take on the world again. 

P.S.: In the video, you can see Kat using cold laser therapy on Sassy’s leg. It is used in a couple of ways: placed on the wound (the red light is for healing and the alternating blue light is antibacterial) and above the wound (to help with swelling).

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Comments(20)

  1. REPLY
    Sue says
    October 21, 2025 at 2:15 pm

    Hello to Sassy and thank you for the extra care and effort to help her out. I love when injured animals in your area seem to know they can come to you when they need help. Please keep us updated on her progress. It is nice to see her again! ❤️🐘❤️

  2. REPLY
    Beci says
    October 21, 2025 at 2:25 pm

    Wow she is big, I know you said the weight but I imagined shorter and stockier. Obviously I’ve never seen one in real life. What is the most touching part of this for me is that from the loving care she got from you before she knew you all were the ones to come back to for the help she needed and she has total trust with you. That example shows the kind of love, and caring you give to all of the animals and make me want to help you so much because I know you are taking care of them with Love, gentleness, kindness and warmth. Thank you for all you do. When we donate to places we hope that is what is happening but we don’t always know that. This type of story proves it because an animal that hadn’t had any ne of those feelings from you wouldn’t return. You all are very special, kind hearted people.

  3. REPLY
    Linda Charles says
    October 21, 2025 at 2:30 pm

    I’m kind of overwhelmed with the love and empathy with which you approach these beautiful souls who are lucky enough to have been found and cared for by your selves. (Talk about a drawn out sentence !!) All of you – stay well. You’re a special breed.

  4. REPLY
    Wim says
    October 21, 2025 at 2:41 pm

    Thank you so much for saving Sassy again. Quite a complex operation. She really shines with her bright eyes and looks lively. Wonderful, so many souls can rebalance at the Sanctuary.
    Wishing for strength and recovery. 🙏

  5. REPLY
    Ada says
    October 21, 2025 at 2:42 pm

    I’ve never heard of a tapir before, but wow! A beauty! Thank you for taking good care of sassy Sassy🥰 May you heal well and soon sweet girl!

  6. REPLY
    Elizabeth says
    October 21, 2025 at 3:14 pm

    Poor Sas! She clearly knows who will take good care of her. ❤️

  7. REPLY
    Bonnie Guerra says
    October 21, 2025 at 3:40 pm

    Prayers she heals without anymore problems it’s funny how she came back to you thank you everyone

  8. REPLY
    Kenneth B. Newman says
    October 21, 2025 at 3:58 pm

    That GSE GSE can spend money and time to help this wounded creature is wonderful.

  9. REPLY
    Maureen says
    October 21, 2025 at 4:00 pm

    Sassy is part of the family. She came home knowing she would get the help she needed. She most likely has some inner instinct that remembers she was helped in this place before, so found her way back. Thank you to everyone at the sanctuary for caring for all of the animals that fall under your purview. You are all wonderful people!!! Sending prayers that Sassy will heal fully and is able to be returned to the wild.

  10. REPLY
    Joey says
    October 21, 2025 at 4:57 pm

    Any chance she has babies out in the wild that will be without their mama for the time you have her in treatment? Do tapirs share mothering duties the way elephants do?

    Which made me think about the elephants and their babies. You aren’t going to breed any of the elephants at the Sanctuary so they will never have any baby elephants to care for. Knowing how important babies are to the entire elephant herd and how the babies are brought up with lots love from the female elephants, will not having any babies ever at the Sanctuary cause the elephants to get depressed or . . .

    But to get back to the tapir, I know nothing about them but wow! That is one big wild animal, isn’t it?

    It’s great that you are able to care for and treatment all types of animals at the Sanctuary as the need arises. You are guys are the best! Thank you for taking care of everyone so well so they can heal and be returned to their wild lives.

    • REPLY
      Sara says
      October 21, 2025 at 5:21 pm

      Sassy has had a few babies since she left us and we’ve caught her on wildlife camera bringing them onto the property, but we haven’t seen any lately. We can’t know, but it’s likely if there was a young tapir who still needed mom, then he/she would possibly have come with her. From everything we’ve seen in treating tapirs over the years, it seems to be a one-woman enterprise. We definitely won’t breed elephants in captivity, since that would only result in yet another captive elephant. Our accrediting body doesn’t allow for it and babies born in captivity often don’t fare well. We can’t say with certainty how they feel about that, but they were taken from their families when they were very young, so they might factor into things.

  11. REPLY
    EA says
    October 21, 2025 at 5:09 pm

    I wonder what caused the original wound?

    I have never liked smacking, but for her I have changed my mind.

    • REPLY
      Sara says
      October 21, 2025 at 5:15 pm

      It’s hard to say what would have caused the injury, since she’s totally wild. It could have been anything from a fall to an encounter with another animal. Some of the woods on the property in areas that are not cleared for the elephants are pretty remote and wild.

  12. REPLY
    Doe Fowler says
    October 21, 2025 at 6:54 pm

    Oh my Sassy! What happened to you sweet girl? Sending well wishes for a full recovery. You are sure fortunate to have a group of wonderful, superstars helping you. Heal quickly sweetie! ❤️‍🩹

  13. REPLY
    Tammy says
    October 21, 2025 at 7:41 pm

    Wow, that cold laser therapy is really impressive has three different healing settings very cool! You’re in good hands Sassy you will be back to feeling 100% in no time!

  14. REPLY
    Bonnie says
    October 21, 2025 at 11:28 pm

    Animal’s are something else so smart and intelligent Sassy knew were to go for help and who she can trust you all at Sanctuary in my eyes are the best

  15. REPLY
    Gayle Janzen says
    October 22, 2025 at 1:44 am

    So happy Sassy reappeared so she could get the care she needed, even if she resisted. Thanks for taking such great care of this sassy pants! I hope she has a complete recovery and is able to go home and make some more babies.

  16. REPLY
    Elaine says
    October 23, 2025 at 7:42 pm

    Thank you for helping Sadsy.

  17. REPLY
    Terry says
    October 28, 2025 at 10:20 am

    You guys are incredible!!! Im so proud to be a part of the Elephant Sanctuary Brazil community!

  18. REPLY
    Kenneth B. Newman says
    March 2, 2026 at 2:44 pm

    Thank you for a really informative piece on wild animal care, ( and this bad injury), and obviously, the GSE team has gone FAR beyond the call of duty. May Sassy live a LONG LIFE !!!

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