Many years ago, when I was greedily going through every article on Offbeat Home to absorb all of the awesomeness within, I came across an article about how to adopt an elephant from Sheldrick’s Wildlife Trust.
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No article from the site has ever stood out in my memory as much as that one, as I imagined how wonderful it would be to adopt one of these beautiful animals myself, and maybe even visit them one day.
I never forgot that article, and this year for my birthday, I told my girlfriend emphatically that that’s what I wanted. She asked me to pick one but it was so hard to narrow down so I ended up sending her two and told her to pick from them. She was so touched by their stories she couldn’t choose, and I awoke on my birthday to find she had adopted both of them in my name. I could not be happier.
How to adopt an elephant
Sheldrick’s Wildlife Trust is of course known mostly for their elephant adoption program, but as I explored what I had just become a small part of I found far more than I expected.
This group has thrown themselves heavily into the fight for conservation and against poaching. Not only will the elephants and other orphaned animals they shelter get to grow up healthy and loved, but they will be released back into the wild as nature intended, and protected from any people who wish to do them harm.
You don’t have to adopt an animal to help them do their good work. Their site has a number of products you can buy for yourself with a percentage of the proceeds going towards the Trust, and other products you can purchase for them, such as milk for the elephants, seedlings for replanting trees in areas hit by deforestation, or a pair of boots for the keepers as they patrol the landscape, guarding it from human predators.
I love animals, and I love nature, so this gift was too good for me not to want to share with the whole Offbeat Empire.
As most of us are already completely surrounded by stuff, junk that will soon be thrown away or forgotten, I want everyone to know that they can help give the gift of life. It doesn’t get any better than that.
