The villagers heard the elephant before they knew what was going on — she was crying out, sounding very distressed. When they went to investigate, they found a baby elephant, who was probably about 3 weeks old, trapped inside of a pit on the southern end of South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. But the baby wasn’t the one making most of the noise — the cries came from his mother, who was desperately trying to free her baby.
The pit wasn’t actually that deep — people had probably been digging up soil there to use for brick molding, which had left a shallow hole in the ground. But the baby elephant was too small to get out on his own. And as hard as she tried, the mother elephant couldn’t get him out either.
But luck struck when the rescue team appeared. These brave and experienced individuals quickly assessed the situation and embarked on the rescue mission. They worked tirelessly, using special tools to pull the baby elephant out of the pit.
“The mum was inside the pit with him, and frantically running around trying to help him out, but she also couldn’t quite manage,” Rachel McRobb, CEO and cofounder of Conservation South Luangwa
A team from CSL, a wildlife vet and park rangers came to the rescue. The first thing they did was tranquilize the mother so she’d stay safe and calm. Then they helped the baby.
“I jumped in the pit with the baby and got three scouts to help lift him out,” McRobb said. “They then carried him over to his mum before we woke her up.”
The baby elephant didn’t need much coaxing — he made a beeline for his mom and stayed close to her as the vet gave her an antidote to the tranquilizer.
The sight of the baby elephant nudging its mother with its trunk while she lay unconscious on the ground was truly heart-wrenching. Fear gripped the little one’s heart as it sensed the possibility of losing its mother, its lifeline and source of comfort. With a mixture of desperation and longing, the baby elephant gently prodded its mother’s motionless body, as if pleading for her to wake up and reassure it that everything would be alright. Each touch of its trunk conveyed a depth of emotion, a silent plea for the return of its beloved protector. In this poignant moment, the bond between mother and child was palpable, their connection unbreakable despite the perilous circumstances.