For three months she grew rapidly and gave much joy and delight to everyone who came into contact with her. Unfortunately, her hard start in life and lack of colostrum and mother’s milk, contributed to her suddenly taking ill and passing away on the 3rd of June 2013. A post-mortem also revealed several organ defects, indicating she may have been born prematurely and had never developed properly.

She touched thousands of lives in her short life and it was decided to honour this little elephant, by building a laboratory in her name. This lab would then be used for monitoring and maintaining the health and welfare of other elephants – not only at Knysna Elephant Park, but at other facilities too. Fiela’s legacy would live on in other elephants through this endeavour.