A wild baby elephant reunited with its mother

Dramatic yet heartwarming reunion was witnessed by a team of delighted Reteti keepers, vets and community volunteers.

Don’t worry this story has a happy ending, so keep reading!

 “We got an urgent call from the community at Kalepo on Namunyak conservancy’s that a calf has fallen in a well and the elephants reported to be around ” Head Para vet Joseph explains.

“When we arrived the calf was screaming and grumbling so much we had a feeling the mother must be with the herd nearby “ says Joseph. 

Every elephant calf is biologically extremely important to its mother because she must invest so much time, energy and effort in producing and rearing a calf to adulthood: 22 months of gestation, four years of lactation, at least 12 years of rearing and protection. Elephants have, therefore, evolved extraordinarily developed behaviors of caring and bonding with their calves. If a calf is to survive to adulthood it, too, must form intense close bonds with its mother and other family members.

“We quickly rigged up some ropes under the body of the calf to pull him out“ after a huge effort and clever use of ropes the team managed to pull free the struggling calf out of the deep well and at that moment… “sure enough the mother came in to sight.

I would have tried to film it but we had to run for safety from the eager mother to reunite with her baby, Joseph says with a laugh!

The Reteti team is committed to rescue and re unite and always gives at the very least 24 hours to stay on site and search for the calf’s Mother if they are clearly separated from their mother rather than orphaned.

“It is a hugely rewarding feeling to see a calf run back to its Mother, we will always work hard for this to happen as it is our first priority” says Joseph.