The villagers heard the elephant before they knew what was happening – it was crying, very distressed. When they wanted to investigate, they found a baby elephant, probably about 3 weeks old, trapped inside a hole in the southern part of South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. But the baby wasn’t the one making most of the noise – the crying came from his mother, who was trying her best to free her child.

The hole wasn’t actually that deep – perhaps people had used bees to dig the soil there to cast bricks, leaving a shallow hole in the trench. But the baby elephant was too small to leave on its own. Despite her best efforts, the mother elephant could not separate the baby elephant.

Rachel McRobb, CEO and co-founder of Conservatoire Soth Langwa (CSL), told The Dodo: “Mum was in the hole with him, and quickly tried to help him get out, but she couldn’t either. know the qusite map”.

A team from CSL, a wildlife veterinarian and park rangers came to the rescue. The first thing they did was tie up the mother so she would be safe and calm. They helped the baby.

“I jumped into the hole with the baby and had three people help lift it up,” McRobb said. “They carried him to his mother before we woke her.”

The baby elephant didn’t need much coaxing – he made a beeline for his mother and stayed close to her when the vet gave him a stimulant.

“Mυm was fine when she woke υp,” McRobb said. “The baby immediately vomited there and had ringing in his ears – he was hungry because he hadn’t been fed all night.”

She added: “The mother seemed very relaxed and very happy to see her child again.”

The mother allows her baby to breastfeed as long as she wants. Finally, when he had had enough, the two elephants walked away together.

“The most emotional part of the rescue for me was two-fold — first, watching the baby stand right next to its mother while our veterinarian administered the antidote, and second, smiling,” McRobb said. smiles on the faces of those who helped.” “It was truly amazing and probably the best thing that happened all year for me.”