Being Barsilinga | Chapter 8 "Barsilinga Today"

The eighth and final chapter in our series following the remarkable story of Barsilinga, the rescued orphan elephant who remains an inspiration for Love Brand founders Oliver & Rose Tomalin.

We love hearing regular updates about Barsilinga and have anxiously followed his progress since he suffered a nasty foot injury that caused him a great deal of pain and infection. We learned from the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust that, in May this year, Barsilinga needed another operation to treat his foot, something that the young elephant bore with great stoicism, taking it all in his stride, fully trusting his keepers to get him the help he needed.

We are thrilled to hear that, while his foot will need to be monitored for some time yet, Barsilinga is feeling a lot chirpier following his treatment from Kenya Wildlife Service veterinarian Dr. Poghon, with follow-up care provided by the SWT keepers. The fact that Barsilinga has now returned to playing and venturing into the bush again with his friends is a testament to the brilliant work of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and Dr. Poghon himself.

In December 2019, the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust launched a sculpture exhibit in London, featuring 21 life-size bronze elephants – a mother and 20 orphaned calves. Each elephant correlates to a real elephant rescued and raised by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, one of whom is Barsilinga! Created and funded by acclaimed public artists Gillie and Marc, the sculptures aim to raise awareness of the next generation of elephants to be added to the wild population, supported by the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, bringing hope for the future of the species. Why not make a trip to Marble Arch to ‘meet’ Barsilinga for yourself?

This marks the end of our ‘Being Barsilinga’ series as well as the end of the year supporting the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Stay tuned for our new charity partner, to be announced next week!

Discover more and donate to our remarkable charity partner Sheldrick Wildlife Trust here.