Trapped in mud and drowned quickly, this pair of elephants were likely to die.
The mother takes action to save her but gets stuck – making the rest of the flock understand alert when trying to save them.
So with no time to lose, a group of conservationists got into action.
Thinking on their feet, they first thread a string down and around the calf and begin to pull.
Some attempts have been made to release the young, but it wants to stay with its mother and resist.
In the end, trying to avoid the stabbing trunk of the mother, they dragged the calf to safety. But rescuing a heavyweight mother has always proved more difficult.
Ropes must be attached to the back of a tractor as they stretch to pull her free. In the end, they succeeded in saving her from the muddy grave, and she was racing to rejoin the herd – and her baby.
The dramatic rescue took place on the flats of the Kapani lagoon in Zambia.
Rachel McRobb, a member of the rescue team from the South Luangwa Conservation Society, said: ‘Most conservationists believe that humans should not interfere with the natural order and we should let nature run. Follow its own path, whether it seems cruel or grim.
‘We agree, as a whole, unless humans create a wildlife problem (e.g., in the case of trapping or being trapped in a fence, in which case it is justified to intervene. ), nature should be left to its own devices. She has a plan.
‘However – every rule has exceptions, and the dreadful plight of a baby elephant trapped in the mud of Kapani Lagoon and its mother, who also stuck trying to save it yesterday, we all have to participate in frenetic activity.
‘We simply couldn’t stand watching them struggle and di.e.’
Before the rescue of staff from the conservation organization, Kapani Lodge and Norman Carr Safaris, mother and calf herds, tried to rescue the couple.
When they couldn’t do anything, the group – along with members of the Zambian Wildlife Authority – moved in while the herd waited on the other side of some trees.
At one point, the calf seemed to be calling for help while its mother resigned to her fate before the rescue took place.
