A baby elephant is safe with her mother once more after being rescued from a well.
A team of elephant conservationists with Amboseli Trust for Elephants responded to a distress call from Amboseli National Park in Kenya early last week, where a baby elephant had fallen into a five-foot well dug by a Masai tribesman.
According to Yahoo News, the eight-month-old baby was not injured; however the well was too deep for her to climb out of on her own. Conservationists rushed to the scene where the calf’s mother, Zombe, was so frantic she thought they were a threat and attempted to sit on their Land Rover.
The caught-on-tape moment was posted by The Amboseli Trust For Elephants who writes about it:
“We rescued this young eight months old calf early this week. Luckily the report came in early in the morning and we were able to get there quick before the mother was forced to leave by herders arriving to water their cattle. It was a happy ending as we were able to reunite the calf with her mother, Zombe.”
Vicki Fishlock, resident scientist of the elephant trust can be heard attempting to scare Zombe (whom she recognized from a telltale mark on her ear) away with a high-pitched yell, and slightly charging the Land Rover in her direction.
Two other rescuers then attempted to get a rope around the calf so she could be pulled out of the well. The distressed baby continues to trumpet and attempts to scramble out of the hole, directed by her mother’s wales in the distance. The direction she faces is opposite of the direction from which they are trying to pull her out.
“You fell in a well you silly girl,” Fishlock commentates in the video, adding that they were all delighted that she was so “so big and fat and healthy,” until she needed to be pulled from a hole.
Eventually, the rope is secured, and tethered to the Land Rover; the rescuers are able to drag the baby out of the well.
Once free the baby immediately takes off to find her mother; Zombe, along with another young elephant rush to greet the calf.
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“Luckily the report came in early in the morning and we were able to get there quick before the mother was forced to leave by herders arriving to water their cattle,” ATE reported on their website. “It was a happy ending as we were able to reunite the calf with her mother, Zombe.”
Yahoo News says without rescue the elephant would have likely died in the well, causing conflict with the Masai tribe.
Watch the video below:
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