Dog Befriends Baby Giraffe After Abandoned in South Africa

MOKOPANE, South Africa — A dog in South Africa has befriended a baby giraffe that was abandoned at birth, rescued and taken to a local orphanage.
Jazz the giraffe arrived at The Rhino Orphanage just days after birth. A farmer found him in the wild, weak and dehydrated, and called the center for help.
Resident watchdog Hunter quickly began to care for the newcomer.
Caretaker Janie Van Heerden says they bonded immediately.
She says the baby giraffe had been given IV fluids and is doing much better. He is being fed milk and is trying to eat leaves.
“Possibly soon he will be able to go home,” she said Friday.

Hunter, a young Belgian Malinois, keeps an eye on Jazz, a nine-day-old giraffe, as orphanage worker Janie Van Heerden looks on at the Rhino orphanage in the Limpopo province of South Africa Friday Nov. 22 2019. Jazz who was brought in after being abandoned by her mother at birth, is being taken care of and fed at the orphanage some three hours North of Johannesburg by Janie Van Heerden, seen right, and has been befriended by Hunter and its sibling Duke. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)