Miracles Happen---So, Never Give Up Hope!

He was born at Taronga Zoo, Sydney on the 7th March this year.

His name is Pathi Harn, an Asian name meaning Miracle.....

Taronga Zoo sits on the side of Sydney Harbour. This giraffe looks towards the city.

Pregnant Asian Elephant Hong Dee came into labour with her first calf following 22 months gestation. It was a gruelling time. After 5 days her waters finally broke yet still no sign's of the calf appearing. By now the cow was in agony,twisting, crawling, climbing and rolling  as time progressed,  yet she uttered no sound. Keepers kept a helpless vidual after the Zoo Vet performed an ultasound and announced....NO MOVEMENT.    All were sad. Even the other elephants paid the first time mother no heed..... they seemed to understand!  To perform a C-section was out of the question as success rates are low and the cow usually dies. Nothing could be done, they simply had to wait on natures own time. Knowing it could be weeks or months for the expulsion the keepers gave up their observation.    At about 5am on the seventh day, the video camera's recorded the birth. Not still born as imagined but alive...... The mother kept tender watch over her baby, occassionally prodding to encourage him to stand. Hours later keepers arrived to discover the live,  but very fragile little fellow. Watched by the mother they worked massaging his body and assisting him to stand. Colostrum extracted from the mother was tube fed directly into the baby's stomach, to give valuable first life assistance. 

      

He was nicknamed Mr Shuffles to begin with as he found it had to get along.
The Miracle:  The baby had been preserved in a coma type rest inside the mother during her long labour. If this had not happened, then the placenta would have detached from the uterus wall causing the baby to die. 

Friends came to visit and he had a playmate.

Soon the weakest began to find his strength and started to throw his weight around.

Now he weighs 156 Kilos or 344 lbs.

The Moral Is: At the slightest sign of survival never give up the fight and never give up HOPE.

God's Word tells us in: Ecclesiates 3:1-2  "There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under Heaven. A time to give birth and a time to die".....

This little elephant didn't know how to worry, but he does know how to live.....For he is a MIRACLE...