Stabilise & decouple
Recover from injury or trauma, establish sound nutrition, and carefully reduce dependence on human handlers so natural behaviours can re-emerge.
Elephant Rescue
From rescue to wild again
Uganda’s dedicated pathway for orphaned and injured elephants — specialised care, patient rehabilitation, and a return to wild landscapes where it is right for the animal.
The need
A missing link in elephant care
Orphaned and injured elephant calves need more than emergency first aid. They need continuous neonatal care, species-specific nutrition, careful veterinary monitoring, and years of social development before a wild life is possible again.
Uganda has strong field response for wildlife emergencies, yet it has lacked a dedicated captive-to-wild rehabilitation and rewilding pathway built specifically for elephants. Without that pathway, vulnerable calves face high mortality — or a future defined by permanent captivity.
Elephant Rescue exists to close that gap: a specialised centre designed for rescue, recovery, and — wherever it is in the animal’s best interest — a carefully prepared return to protected wild landscapes.
What we do
Rescue. Rehabilitate. Rewild.
Operated by African Elephant Rescue and Rehabilitation Center Ltd — a Ugandan initiative focused on elephant welfare and long-horizon recovery.
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Emergency rescue & stabilisation
Rapid intake for orphaned and injured calves: trauma care, hydration, quarantine, and veterinary assessment before any rehabilitation begins.
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Specialised rehabilitation
Age-appropriate nutrition, behavioural recovery, and progressive independence — reducing artificial dependence on people while building natural skills.
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Group-based rewilding
Where release is appropriate, elephants progress through staged soft-release landscapes and leave only as cohesive groups with formal clearance.
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Lifetime sanctuary when needed
Not every elephant will be a release candidate. When wild return is not in an individual’s best interest, we provide long-term managed care.
The journey
A patient path back to the wild
Progression is based on readiness — health, behaviour, foraging, and social cohesion — not a fixed calendar. Animals only advance when they are prepared.
Build the herd
Integrate calves into stable social groups with older mentor elephants, practising the bonds and hierarchies that wild herds rely on.
Soft release landscapes
Live with increasing independence in larger natural habitats — foraging, navigating terrain, and learning caution around people and vehicles.
Authorised return & monitoring
When conditions and clearances allow, cohesive groups may be returned to suitable protected areas, with continued monitoring to safeguard welfare and coexistence.
Impact
Elephants restore more than themselves
Healthy elephant populations shape landscapes. Returning suitable animals to the wild supports biodiversity, ecological processes, and the people who live alongside wildlife.
- Survival for vulnerable calves A specialised safety net where intensive care and long rehabilitation are possible.
- Living landscapes Elephants open habitat, disperse seeds, and help keep ecosystems dynamic and resilient.
- Connected herds Rewilding aims to strengthen wild populations and the corridors that link protected areas.
- Communities alongside wildlife Local employment, skills, and coexistence measures so protecting elephants can also support neighbouring livelihoods.
Permits & licences
Operating within Uganda’s regulatory framework
African Elephant Rescue and Rehabilitation Center Ltd holds the required wildlife and environmental permits and licences to operate a dedicated elephant rescue and rehabilitation facility, including authorisations under the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and environmental compliance overseen by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).
Support
Help us bring elephants home to the wild
Your gift goes to elephants.ug — operated by African Elephant Rescue and Rehabilitation Center Ltd — for calf care, rehabilitation, and rewilding.
Online giving — connecting
Donation checkout is being connected. For institutional enquiries: rescue@elephants.ug
Questions: rescue@elephants.ug
Contact
Get in touch
Questions about the project or how to support this work:
African Elephant Rescue and Rehabilitation Center Ltd