By Annemarie Eveland

Photos by Annemarie Eveland 

and Prayeri

I was delighted that owner/President/Co-Founder Prayeri was willing to share a couple of stories of her experience healing wounded animals at their Out of Africa Wildlife Park in Camp Verde, Arizona. I have retained much of her own words so that our readers understand what it takes to rehabilitate animals and safely set them free into the vast grounds of their Park. She began, 

This is the story of Kenyatti, a Sable antelope. He was born at our Out of Africa Wildlife Park, in one of the large plains hoof stock areas. We call this area the Masa Mara, like the territory in Africa.         

Shortly after baby Sable was born, we saw two zebras trampling him. My husband, Dean, and I saw that baby Sable was in serious trouble. The mother Sable was running at the two zebras, head tossing up and down, with her long horns to detour, or stop the ongoing attack on her helpless newborn. We raced to the scene, threw a blanket at the mother Sable’s horns, as she was now attempting to prevent us from interfering, thinking we were going to hurt her baby too.

We quickly picked up the frightened baby and removed him from the Zebra’s focused assault. We managed to get him safely away from the Zebras into our vehicle and hurriedly drove out of the Masa Mara habitat to a building to assess the damage to the newborn. His head had a hole at the top of his skull. He had blood on both legs and he was seriously traumatized. We could see the baby was going to need our constant care to get him through this trauma.

Later, after we cared for the newborn, we realized its mom had joined the rest of her herd in a different area in the Masa Mara acreage.

To help the baby Sable survive took constant care for a few weeks of tube feeding and then bottle feeding. I would have to stand him up each time I fed or cleaned him, because his legs were very weak, and then stimulate his bottom until he could defecate on his own. We named him Kenyatti — musician/singer.

A few weeks before this episode, we had also rescued an adult Great Pyrenees dog, who had entered our park from the desert. He was extremely fearful and had many abrasions on his body. We called the stray dog Avalanche. He was getting better after much care and having a vet remove thirty burrs buried in his paws from the harsh desert living, likely for a long time. Scars on his face and pads were undoubtedly from coyotes, during his time of surviving a hard desert existence. He showed very little emotion. He would stay on the porch of our house, just sitting most of the day.

The Sable baby, Kenyatti, was now showing some improvement after my many hours of feeding, cleaning and devotedly mothering him and showing him love and patience.

One morning, Kenyatti suddenly walked out of the bathroom where he confined himself. He walked through the living room, and then onto the porch, and sat down next to Avalanche. They nuzzled each other, and they became instant friends, and didn’t seem to realize they were not the same type of animal body, but they were the same in heart, loving, sweet, and now true family to each other. They lived together playing and enjoying a large area where they could play and run seemingly free.

After a while, the Sable was getting quite large; it was decided that Kenyatti may be able to join an older male Sable Antelope, Keyanga, that had been neutered and was living among other hoof stock in a large area. Keyanga was residing with a herd of Eland Antelope, here at our park, where they had an extensive area to roam. This would be a more natural way of life for Kenyatti. I knew Avalanche and Kenyatta would miss each other, but it was a better choice for an African Antelope to live with other herds of antelope.

The day came for Kenyatti to be moved to his bigger space and new life. Our wildlife park had not opened yet that morning, so we walked Avalanche on a leash, and Kenyatti followed beside me. We walked all the way to the gate that opened to the Eland acreage. When we opened the entry gate, after brief hesitation, Kenyatti walked right over to Keyanga, as if they knew they were to be together.

I felt it was going to be easier for Avalanche and Kenyatti to keep from missing each other if they did not see each other again, so before long we acquired Klondike, a Great Pyrenees puppy, to be Avalanche’s new friend. And so, it was meant to be that Keyanga and Kenyatti also became great friends. 

Kenyatti still has a very sweet spot for people, perhaps from the kind, nurturing care we had given him. He has been known to not move from the gate, where staff need to leave the animal area in their feed truck. The call we hear on the radio is, “Will someone help us move Kenyatti from the entry gate, so we can get out?” He will come when called and enticed by animal feeder cookies we use for animal treats. I wonder where he got that habit?

When you come to visit Out of Africa Wildlife Park, you can see a grownup Kenyatti on the main Serengeti road, usually near the gate, of course!

Listening to Prayeri’s sharing about the rescue of Kenyatti prompted her to tell me one more (of her many stories.)

Kimbia — means “to run” — a baby African lioness that was born at our Out of Africa Wildlife Park. We didn’t have many birthings at the park for many years. When the last two male lions passed away of old age — living over 20 years — we were left with just one 18-year-old male lion named Asante. Asante lived with two of our older female lionesses, that had both been spayed over the years.

For many years, we didn’t breed carnivores. When Asante was bitten by a Mojave Green rattlesnake, we could not save him. Sadly, he died in our arms. He will forever be missed. Asante’s passing was the last of our male lions. All the female Lionesses had been spayed or were beyond breeding age.

However, one day we learned that three rescues were available and needed a home. These three adult rescues were named Ted, Lady, and Kayla. They lived in a zoo in another state, in a small area enclosure where the facility had no other room to breed, and it was a tiny living area for the lions.

The owner wanted them to have more space. So, we were able to acquire the three adult lions and give them huge areas to run around and eventually be together. In time, they bred. Kayla ended up having one female baby lioness, and Lady had two male lion babies. Unfortunately, neither mom would nurse their babies, nor even acted interested in them.

We knew it was not good to have two males and one female together. We were hoping for one male and two females, and then we planned on spaying the female babies, to put them together without breeding possibilities. The second breeding was the same number of males, Askari and Amani were the names we gave them. Both baby female lionesses were spayed, so they would not breed with their half-brothers. Each pride lived together harmoniously, but soon we decided it would be time that Kimbia was old enough to have an operation.

The veterinarian did the procedure, and it went well. Early the next morning, when we went to check on Kimbia, we were shocked to see that she had torn her sutures open and had pulled her intestines outside her stomach cavity. They were still hooked to her insides, but they were laying on the ground. We called Veterinarian Dr. Skinner at the Prescott Animal Hospital, who said to bring her in right away.

As he instructed, we wrapped her in something wet and rushed her to the hospital as fast as we could get there. After an extensive surgery, we brought Kimbia back to the Park where she stayed inside, and I watched her closely around the clock. By morning, Kimbia was not doing well at all. I had a meeting with the rest of the staff in that department, and then I called Dr. skinner, to consult on Kimbia’s situation. 

When I asked him what was the chance that Kimbia would live if I brought her back to the hospital, his response was about one perent. I said that was OK. One percent from him, and the rest was a prayer with the Lord. I said quickly that we’re going to bring her in, and she’s going to make it.

Kimbia was in surgery for quite a few hours, and they did have to remove 32 inches of her intestines. After they sewed her back up, we brought her back to the park, and we had instructions not to leave her alone to re-tear her sutures, or she would never make it. At that point, I lived with her for 24 hours each day for two weeks. I brought her into my house, confined her with me in a large playpen on my living room floor. I placed plastic on the floor and slept with her day and night, making sure she would not tear her sutures.

It was quite a memorable and intense time living with this baby lioness, following her around in the playpen when it was time for her to go potty, catching it in a pan, and sleeping with her with my hand covering her sutures. When she moved and started licking them or bothering them, I would wake up and distract her. We would spend each of our days and nights together in this way. It took two long, full weeks. At the end of the two full weeks, it seemed like her sutures were fine, and so I was able to start carefully taking them out one snip at a time. Finally, we could take her outside and introduce her back with her brothers, Askari and Amani.

Kimbia had grown so close to me during her recovery time that she decided she had to protect me from her half-brothers, and she would not let the boys anywhere near me. In time, however, we got them back together. They now live happily together in a large habitat at Out of Africa Wildlife Park. But I have to say, Kimbia is the boss of the Habitat. You can visit them, and many other wonderful animals at our park in Camp Verde.

I walked with Prayeri down to the next enclosure.

Prayeri then turned her attention to the Hyena Chipa — means “to be strong.” Before entering his enclosure, she made special sounds, and he came running to her. She knelt and began nuzzling him, which was obviously a great delight for him. They truly had a special relationship.

Next there were the warthogs, her favorites. She walked down and started calling them in a kind of wild yodel. The three of them came running from some distance away, crossed the gully and came dashing eagerly with their own sounds. The first one rolled over and Prayeri started rubbing his belly. The other two stood by and made little sounds. Maybe imagining how good it will feel to have their bellies rubbed, too?

I could feel that the animals knew her kindness and love and resonated with it. It was amazing to see her special connection with the usually avoided wild animals such as hyena and warthogs, but it was real and wonderful. 

So, if you and your family would like to visit wild animals, plan a fun family day to visit Out of Africa in Camp Verde. I got “kissed” by a giraffe, witnessed the Predator Feed, and the famous Tiger Splash presentation. I missed the Zip Line that covers the park from the air, but I look forward to my “next visit” because Africa is closer than you think!