You can often spot him at the lodge’s watering hole.
Stumpy the elephant, as he is fondly known, is one of the favorite regulars at the Four Seasons Serengeti. He got his name from having only half his trunk, injured by a poacher’s snare but luckily rescued in time.
Elephants live in herds, bound by strong instincts to support one another. Stumpy’s herd offers him care and protection that allows him an otherwise ordinary life.
“Poachers’ snares are a real issue in the Serengeti,” says Oli Dreike, the Four Seasons Safari Lodge’s naturalist and Discovery Center manager. “Poachers try to capture what they see as one of millions of animals for meat, but…the snares are indiscriminate and can catch and kill, or cause severe injuries to any and all of the Serengeti’s threatened wildlife; including lions, wild dogs and even elephants, like Stumpy.”
Thankfully, Stumpy’s story is a happy one. To protect Stumpy and the rest of the amazing animals, the Four Seasons helped found an anti-poaching initiative called the Serengeti De-Snaring Project. So far, they’ve removed thousands of snares and intend to remove even more next year.
Your vacation can help protect critically endangered wildlife and uplift the local communities! At Stellar Travel, your advisor can help you craft a life-changing safari, making sure you travel with the best hotels and tour operators who also give back the most to the local area. Give us a call today to get started.
