Orphaned baby elephant raised by human "mother" in Malawi dies after illness

LILONGWE, Malawi – An elephant calf that was separated from his herd and raised by a human "mother" for months in Malawi has died.

Jenny Webb, who raised the calf, said it died Monday night "in her arms." She said the elephant had been sick with colic and diarrhea.

In February, Webb adopted the elephant, which had been named Moses after being found in the grasses of a riverbed by game rangers at Vwazi Wildlife Reserve in northern Malawi. She said rangers tried to find his family herd for two days without success and that his mother was likely killed by poachers.

Malawi's national parks did not have the funds to raise the little elephant, so Webb, the founder of the Jumbo Foundation, an orphanage for large animals, cared for him.