Unfortunately, the animal kingdom can be a very cruel world sometimes. Children who are born with illnesses or have infections are often not treated at all but cast out from their family or their herd. That’s exactly what happened to this poor baby elephant from South Africa, Ellie.

The elephant, a male calf, was left all alone and his chances of survival were extremely slim.

Elephants absolutely thrive when they’re in groups.

If Ellie would have been left alone for much longer, he likely wouldn’t have survived. Luckily, the baby elephant managed to find his way to the Thula Thula Rhino Orphanage, a sanctuary and conservation fund where numerous animals are being looked after.

It’s a tourist attraction as well to raise money for the animals.

“This 4500 ha, malaria free wildlife reserve was established in 1911 and has been operational as Thula Thula since 1998. It is home to a wide variety of game like elephant, buffalo, rhino, leopard, hippo, giraffe, birds and many more. (…) The Zulu name Thula Thula literally means peace and tranquillity.” their website states.

Staff members were worried about the baby elephant being sick, but they also wondered if you could actually thrive and be healthy without a herd.

Doctors diagnosed Ellie with a pretty significant abscess in the area of his umbilical stem.

Those abscesses usually heal, but Ellie’s didn’t and the area got infected. It didn’t take long before the infection had a tole on his entire body via the bloodstream, which then caused septicemia.

As soon as Ellie arrived, the staff members worked hard to keep Ellie alive, but then they discovered that he was allergic to milk as well.

This definitely didn’t make the situation any easier, but they were determined to take care of Ellie to the best of their abilities. Without milk, it was hard to give the baby elephant all the minerals and nutrients he needed, especially since his immune system was compromised now.

Luckily, it actually worked.

Thanks to the tender loving care of the workers, this precious and adorable baby elephant started feeling better – one step at a time.

Even though his physical condition was ameliorating, they were still very worried about Ellie’s lack of social connections, as it could potentially be life-threatening.

While that may sound a little bit excessive, elephants are incredibly social animals and aren’t used to living outside of a herd.

Without social interaction or structure, it’s likely that Ellie wouldn’t survive.

The staff thought that this would be a tough challenge since he was an outcast, but it turns out that they had the solution waiting for them all along.

A German Shephard, Duma, instantly befriended Ellie and they’ve been inseparable ever since.

Now that Ellie can socialize with Duma and perhaps other animals in the future, the staff hopes that his social needs are now met. It’s the least absolute least that this precious and adorable calf deserves.

Ellie’s canine companion will definitely help in his recovery process too.

“I just LOVE elephants and dogs, and how amazing is it that they get along so well, becoming so important and special to each other! I think you folks are exceptional, and I suspect you’re actually angels in disguise,” one person commented.

Be sure to check out the amazing friendship between Ellie and Duma in the video below!

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Source: Earth Touch (YouTube), Apost, Thula Thula