Over the past 26 years, rescued Asian and African elephants have found refuge in Elephant sanctuary in Tennessee. The 2,700-acre sanctuary provides a place where elephants can roam free with other rescued elephants and be cared for for the first time in their lives.
Elephants are the largest land mammal with African elephants weighing up to 6 tons (more than 13,000 pounds). So, taking care of their paws is crucial to their well-being – especially when elephants are abandoned and forced to live in cramped conditions.
Caregivers at the sanctuary are taught how to properly care for elephants, including performing weekly foot checks and regular foot checks.
“They have to undergo intensive training to learn about elephant foot anatomy, foot problems in captive elephants, and preventive care.” posted conservation areas.
To keep everyone safe, there are protective training walls with built in footrests to gain the trust of the elephants and perform daily and weekly checks.
A video posted to Instagram details what is involved in caring for an elephant’s paws. They are checked regularly to make sure there aren’t any painful stones, cracks, or abscesses. After that, once a week they are scrubbed and nail-grinded, if necessary.
Comment read“Elephants that have lived in captivity need regular paw care to stay healthy and enjoy exploring. Sanctuary elephants’ large, impact-absorbing paw pads are checked for debris and scrubbed regularly by the Care Staff, making pachyderm’s toenails flake-free which is an important element of care. Elephant health care at The Sanctuary! ”
The dedicated staff will take it a step further by taking X-rays and photo diaries of each elephant’s paws. This way they can see if any changes have occurred.
Personal care also includes a proper diet, dental exams, and remedial exercises. This ensures each elephant is always in the best possible mental and physical condition.
Full-time veterinary and care staff will care for the herd and interact through positive reinforcement and allowing freedom of choice for the elephants.
Something most of them never have.
The nine resident elephants choose how they want to spend their time and if they want to be alone or with another elephant.
The elephant habitat is closed to the public to allow the mammal species to live as naturally as possible. People can still see the majestic animals through live streaming EleCam, a camera system using solar energy is located throughout the reserve.
Meet current residents by multiply here.
The sanctuary not only focuses on caring for elephants, but also educates the public about the complex needs of elephants in captivity and the crisis that elephants in the wild face.
Learn more about the reserve by watching the video below.
