Kenya and Tanzania have been facing the longest droughts over the last years, something that impacts both the local population and the animals that live in the Kenyan and Tanzanian wilderness.
According to reports in late 2022, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, was at the time “experiencing its worst water shortage in decades”.
At the same time, it has been reported that the 2020-2022 drought in Kenya “has been the most severe and longest with widespread livelihood loses and massive displacement of populations”.
The drought leads the local wildlife to search for water, which sometimes can prove too risky a task for them.
A few months ago, locals had to save two female elephants that had been stuck in mud while trying to drink water from there.
Only days later, a rescue operation had to be organized when a mother elephant and her calf got stuck in the same dam.
According to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, mother and baby, exhausted from their search for water, ended up near the dam, which they considered a safe spot to drink some water.
Unfortunately, the dam could have been their mud tomb had local vets not arrived there and intervened on time.
You see, the mother elephant lost her footing in the slick mud.
As thrashed around, trying to stand again, she only ended up getting more stuck and, worst of all, she accidentally took her baby with her.
Mother and calf could not figure out how they could get out of there, but the mother instinct prevailed, urging the mother to try to protect her baby using her trunk.
On the second day, the wildlife trust was notified of the emergency, and they had a helicopter fly to the Kenya-Tanzania border to find the stuck elephants.
The baby was quite easy to pull out, but the mother tried to make it hard for the locals because she felt she had to protect her little one from humans.
However, they made it, and the calf was soon safely out of the mud.
Surprisingly enough, his instinct was just as strong as his mom’s, because he kept going back to the dam to make sure his mom would be fine.
This made the vets’ job harder, so they had to anesthetize both elephants to make sure they would carry out the project successfully.
The heavy adult elephant was not easy to move out of the muddy prison.
“[The team] managed to secure the tow ropes around her front legs and bum. These were attached to the tractor, which was then caravanned to two Land Cruisers. With a mighty pull, the three-vehicle convoy managed to haul the elephant out of her muddy prison,” reads an article posted on the trust’s page.
When both animals were safe, the vets woke them up. Soon, the baby got to his mom, who was finally able to stand on her feet again, and they left together.
It was a truly heartwarming rescue.
You can watch it in the video below.
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