A courageous baby elephant in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve showed unwavering loyalty to its injured friend, standing by the young bull’s side as veterinarians treated him.
Rangers from Olarro Conservancy discovered five elephants wounded by arrows earlier this week. It was later revealed that local farmers shot the animals after they had consumed some of the crops.
The rangers immediately contacted the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Mara Elephant Project (MEP), and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT), who all coordinated efforts to send a mobile veterinary team to aid the injured elephants.
The team had to use sedatives administered via helicopter before attending to the animals. As the first bull was darted, it moved away from the herd along with an older elephant and a calf, later identified as an 18-month-old.
The young calf remained devoted to the sedated bull, who might have been its sibling, even as the older elephant left.
DSWT CEO Angela Sheldrick described the calf as “remarkably unaggressive” considering the situation, suggesting that the calf might have understood that the veterinarians were there to help.
Despite the recent conflict with humans that had led to the elephants’ injuries, the baby elephant displayed no signs of panic, fear, or aggression.
The veterinary team successfully treated all five elephants over two days, and they have since fully recovered and rejoined their herd.
Sheldrick expressed how moved the team was by the baby elephant’s protective behavior, adding that making a difference in such situations is uplifting.
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