Article: IF THEY COULD TALK, THEY'D SAY 'MAMA'

NAIROBI, Kenya - Enos Okode couldn't get any closer to his animals if he grew tusks.

"We call them by their names, and we know them," he said of the rhinoceroses, elephants and elands at the animal orphanage near Nairobi National Park, where he works 24 hours a day.

"We are their mothers. We talk with them. We tell them to sleep, they sleep. Smile, they smile. All the time, day or night."

Okode is one of several animal keepers here, and the affection he has for his charges is deep.

They include Olmeg, a 19-month-old elephant orphaned at Maralal Game Sanctuary at the age of 3 weeks. Found standing beside his mother, who had been slaughtered by poachers for her ivory tusks, Olmeg ...

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