This heart-wrenching video shows a mother elephant attempting to awaken her young from anesthesia after it was caught in a poacher’s snare. The Olare Motorogi Conservancy in southwestern Kenya captured footage of the calf, who had been wounded by a poacher’s trap on its hind leg, being tranquilized with a sedative by a veterinary team.
The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust was alerted to the injured calf by a security patrol, which allowed them to dispatch veterinarians from the Kenya Wildlife Service to the location.
The SkyVets team made an attempt to treat the two-year-old calf. However, the mother was fiercely protective and struggled to wake her offspring from the anesthesia.
Fortunately, the trap was removed before any damage could occur. According to Rob Brandford, Executive Director of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (UK), the mother was very protective of her calf, and the SkyVet team could not intervene without also putting her under anesthesia. With the herd nearby, the team had to act fast. Using wire cutters, they were able to easily remove the trap from the calf’s leg. Thankfully, the trap did not harm or pierce the skin.
