Happy Reunion as Baby Elephant Is Rescued from Well and Tracks Its Mother (Kenya)

Author(s)

Linda Shiundu, Tuko

Date Published

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A calf that had fallen into a well while trying to drink water and was abandoned by its family was rescued and successfully tracked its mother.

Baby Elephant Rescued from Well

It is assumed that the rest of the herd tried to rescue the young elephant through the night, but the sides of the hole were too steep and slippery.

A statement by Big Life Africa on its Facebook page showed that eventually, the herd moved off, perhaps as humans and their livestock started to move around in the morning.

“The lonely calf was found by representatives of Royal African Safaris while on a game drive in the Enduimet Wildlife Management Area, an area of northern Tanzania that forms part of the Greater Amboseli ecosystem,” read the statement.

The representatives managed to get a message out, and one of the Big Life-funded rapid-response ranger units was quickly on the scene. Everyone worked together to get a cable looped around the poor young elephant, which was pulled out of the muddy pit by a vehicle winch. 

Baby Elephant Locates Its Mother

But by that point, no one knew where the elephant’s family had moved on. Luckily, the calf picked up the scent of its family and set off in hot pursuit. To everyone’s delight, the family had only gone a few kilometres, and the calf could track them down for a happy reunion between mother and baby. R

According to Big Life Africa, as drought worsens, animals will be forced to look for water from risky sources, including artificial livestock watering wells such as in this case. ‘We know that this will not be the last elephant that gets into trouble in the coming months, but thanks to our friends at RAS and the Enduimet Wildlife Management Area rangers, we are relieved that this particular story has a happy ending,” said Big Life Africa. 

Rescuers Perform CPR on Elephant

In a related story, TUKO.co.ke reported on Wednesday, July 13, wildlife rescuers in Thailand saved a pair of elephants, a mum and her baby after they both fell into a maintenance hole.

A passerby noticed that the baby elephant had fallen into the utility hole and alerted wildlife authorities. ‘It was impossible to get near the baby while the mother was nearby, so we gave her three doses of tranquillisers, but she moved towards her baby before passing out and hit her head.”

Park rangers feared the mother would cry for help from the 30-elephant herd nearby if they forced their way to pull the baby, so they called the vets. A tranquilliser was ultimately applied to the older elephant in an effort to destabilise her so the rescue could continue. A team set a temporary barrier to prevent the protective and potentially violent herd from approaching. But as a result, the mother elephant tumbled partially into the hole.

While the mother was passed out in the hole, the baby elephant suckled milk, which gave vets some relief. Rescuers went all-in to help the mother and baby simultaneously. Several rescuers had to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the mother, ultimately saving her life, just as the calf emerged from the hole and was reunited with her.

https://www.tuko.co.ke/people/family/464554-sweet-moment-baby-elephant-rescued-tracks-motherhappy-reunion/