Viral Baby Elephant Brings Joy Back Into the World

While journalist Alvin Kaunda was filming a piece about an elephant orphanage in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi for Kenya’s Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), a star was born.

While Kaunda was reporting on how baby elephants were being looked after during a drought, one of the baby elephants tapped on his shoulder and then began playing with his face with its trunk. It is so sweet to watch him reporting this very important environmental study while this elephant gives him trunk kisses. The whole interaction is very gentle and sweet. While the internet is horrible right now, one thing it has always been great at is giving us good content when it comes to cute animals.

Hopefully, as people are enjoy the cuteness of the baby elephant, they will listen to Kaunda’s words about protecting our wild species and their environments. Currently, in Kenya, there is a terrible drought that has led to the death of hundreds of animals says CNN.

“Prolonged drought across the Horn of Africa over the past four consecutive rainy seasons has left some 18 million people affected by food shortages in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, according to reports from the World Food Programme.”

The drought has been catastrophic concerning its impact on human and wildlife.

CNN also quotes the Kenyan The Ministry of Tourism, who said, “The Kenya Wildlife Service Rangers, Community Scouts, and Research Teams counted the deaths of 205 elephants, 512 wildebeests, 381 common zebras, 51 buffalos, 49 Grevy’s zebras, and 12 giraffes in the past nine months.” It is also reported that the UN’s World Meteorological Organization has called the drought is “the region’s longest in four decades.” Najib Balala, Kenya’s former cabinet secretary for wildlife and tourism, said that climate change kills 20 times as many elephants as poaching.

Climate change’s current impact is something that we talk too little about on a global scale. We talk about the impact not being felt until the next generation, but it is being felt right now. We don’t need to wait for the future to see how horrible this will be for the world and all the creatures who live here.

You love that baby elephant? Protect its world.

(featured image: Disney/edited by author)