“Dante” is a Spanish name which means ‘strong and enduring’. “Dante” was the name given to the elephant calf by the Secretary General of Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation.

“Dante” was a bull elephant — the calf of Pang Kam Noi — born on 15 February 2010. As a newborn calf, Dante was abnormally small. He could not drink milk from his mother’s breast due to his inadequate size and height and, therefore, inadequate reaching capacity. (He was born 2 – 3 months premature.) The mother elephant and her calf were delivered to Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation Hospital for treatment.

On 16 February 2010, Kam Noi and her calf arrived at FAE Elephant Hospital. A health examination of mother and calf revealed the following observations:

The mother elephant wasn’t producing an adequate supply of milk. Dante was her first calf. (The mother elephant gave birth when she was 16 months into her pregnancy.)

The calf was abnormally small. His height was only 64 centimetres, which means that the calf’s height was inadequate for drinking milk from his mother’s breast. He weighed only 26 kilograms. (The normal weight range for a newborn elephant calf is around 70 – 80 kilograms.)

FAE Elephant Hospital got the calf to drink goat’s milk in alternation with his mother’s milk. (We tried to make the mother’s milk the primary source of sustenance for the calf.) Goat’s milk was incorporated because the mother elephant was only producing small quantities of milk. The calf’s dung wasn’t too fluid, and he drank the goat’s milk well. Cushions wrapped in sack cloths were brought in as an experimentation to get the calf to stand on the cushions, which helped to elevate him so that he could reach his mother’s breast. After eight days, Dante successfully climbed his mother’s leg to drink her milk. (He would step on the area of the chain that tethered his mother to a post.) He managed this without the support of the cushions.

Dante was a happy little boy who liked to play. On the days when it wasn’t raining, he would walk over to visit Mosha and Motala. During the hot afternoons, Dante would go for a swim in the pool behind his unit. Dante ate well and drank water well, and relieved himself normally.

Then, on the afternoon of 22 April 2017, Dante (aged 7) began to exhibit an abnormal swaying in his walking. His pulse was weak. Dr. Kay (Cruetong Kayan) administered fluids and anti-shock treatment to help sustain Dante’s life pulse. But, alas! Dante fell down on the ground, and there was blood coming out of his rectum. The vet did everything possible to save his life. Finally, Dante had to take departure from this world.

22 April 2017: Dante passed away suddenly at the age of 7. The laboratory results of the autopsy revealed the contraction of the Endotheliotropic Herpes Virus (EEHV).