An unexpected guest appeared at a South African game reserve when a 10-day-old baby elephant separated from her herd and wandered into a family’s garden.
The young female, affectionately named Tom, traveled nearly 30 miles before arriving on Tuesday night at the Thula Thula Private Game Reserve in Zululand.
The game reserve’s owner, Francoise Maldy Anthony, and her staff were astonished when Tom entered their living room.
They provided the baby elephant with food and water while rangers searched for her mother. In a remarkable twist, it turned out that Tom’s mother was an elephant that Anthony’s late husband had rescued years earlier.
Baby elephants rarely get separated from their herds, so Tom’s journey to the game reserve was a rare and remarkable event. According to Anthony, who has owned the account for 15 years, she had never witnessed anything like it.
The staff at Thula Thula allowed Tom to roam freely while minimizing contact to avoid rejection by her mother.
When the mother and baby were finally reunited, Tom appeared reluctant to leave, even trying to follow the van as it pulled away.
Overnight monitoring confirmed that Tom was successfully integrated back into her herd. Francoise Maldy Anthony, now living alone after losing her husband, conservationist and novelist Lawrence Anthony, recalled the extraordinary experience, which some belief was more than a coincidence.
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