Jan. 26 (UPI) — A tiny baby elephant found itself stuck in a muddy puddle and had no way out until its family came to its rescue and saved it.
Jolandi De Klerk witnessed this moment of an elephant family coming together and working as one, while on honeymoon with her husband. Jolandi shared this heartwarming sighting and footage with LatestSightings.com.
“It was our very first drive in Addo Elephant National Park; we entered via the Mathyolweni gate, in the South. We headed straight for the main camp when we came across our first large herd of elephants. The elephants, big and small, were all making use of a small pool of muddy water. The bigger elephants had already drunk, and now the youngsters were having their turn.”
“That’s when we spotted the cutest little baby amongst his much larger siblings. The little one was trying to also get its share of the water. However, being so tiny, it had to get right to the water’s edge to have any chance of getting a sip. That unfortunately meant that it was standing on the very slippery part of the waterhole.”
“And just like that, in a blink of an eye, the baby elephant fell face first into the muddy water and disappeared! There was an immediate sense of panic in the entire herd; the elephants closest to the water rushed over and stretched their trunks desperately trying to pull the little one out. Nearly all the herd were trying, but the baby was just too small and weak to grab onto any of their outstretched trunks.”
“The panic increased as time ticked by and the baby was just sinking further and further in with every step it took. Covered in mud and exhausted, the baby looked like it was ready to give up. But just then one of the herd members had a brilliant idea; it climbed down the embankment and went into the water with the baby.”
“Once the one bigger elephant entered the water, another followed, and the two bigger elephants slowly prodded and guided the now tired baby to a less steep embankment. This made it easier for the baby to walk out of the mud without having to climb the steep embankment.”
“As the baby came out of the waterhole, the entire herd had a sense of relief, and so did we. It was now happily reunited with his family and safe from the muddy struggle he was in.”
