VIDEO: Baby elephant rescued from poacher’s snare
A story of survival in the wild was documented at Thula Thula Game Reserve by Saving the Wild founder, Jamie Joseph.
AN amazing story of survival in the wild was documented at Thula Thula Game Reserve by Saving the Wild founder, Jamie Joseph, after an elephant calf was found tangled in a poacher’s snare.
This is her story.
‘Not long after my arrival at Thula Thula, Francoise Malby-Anthony, Lawrence’s wife and charismatic owner of Thula Thula, had mentioned to me that it had been a long time since the elephants had visited the area surrounding the safari lodge, so I was surprised to hear trumpeting when I was drifting off to sleep at about a quarter to midnight,’ said Jamie.
‘Clearly I was the only person awake, but a stone’s throw in front of me were a dozen pairs of animal eyes.’
‘I sat down on the deck chair and began listening intently to the trumpeting which was coming from the east. The elephants were calling out, a strangled cry that came from a place of anguish, and sitting helplessly in the dark I began to feel like a clamp was squeezing my heart. I knew something was very wrong, but there was nothing I could do.’
After meeting with the game reserve manager and operations manager, it was confirmed that the son of proud mum Marula, the youngest in a family of 29, was caught in a poacher’s snare, and the snare was wrapped around his precious five week old face, missing his eye by millimetres.
‘Every hour that passed was another hour that the baby would be starved of his mother’s milk, and the herd was growing increasingly agitated,’ said Jamie.
‘After a very short debrief, the chopper took off in search of the herd, with us following behind at an explosive pace. A couple minutes later members of the Thula Thula security team were on our tail.’
A herd of elephants thundered towards the vehicle, escaping the noise of the helicopter above.
The calf had been darted and minutes later the team arrived on the scene.
‘Within seconds the snare was removed with magnificent precision,’ said Jamie.
‘After quickly assessing the situation, the vet injected the reversal ‘wake up’ drug into his right ear, and we knew we’d have less than a minute before it kicked in.’
Shortly after hitting the road in a cloud of dust, mother and baby were reunited.
From the moment the mother of the baby came forward to show our game reserve manager, Vusi, the snare around the head of her baby and ask for help, to the whole herd gathering at the entrance of the Safari Lodge after mother and baby were reunited – as if they wanted to say thank you to the team celebrating the rescue – an amazing experience, felt by guests and staff alike.
