Eighteen years, 280 rangers, 17 elephants: Rachael Murton's rewilding work wins IFAW's rescue award

In 2008, Rachael Murton founded Zambia's Elephant Orphanage Project with a stubborn idea: rescue orphaned elephants, but raise them with as little human contact as possible, so the wild can have them back. Eighteen years on, she leads more than 280 employees and rangers caring for 17 elephants in rehabilitation — and the proof of the model walks the bush: Chamilandu, a released orphan, has given birth to her second calf in the wild. On October 23 in London, Murton received the IFAW Wildlife Rescue Award at the Animal Action Awards, recognising a lifetime's bet that the best rescue is the one that ends in freedom.

SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: individual leader