Safari guides tried to Save Elephant stuck in mud for 4 days BUT after freeing they were forced to put him down
Pictures have emerged of safari guides risking their own lives to mount a desperate battle to save a young elephant who was stuck up to his neck in mud for up to four days.
The small bull used his trunk as a snorkel as rescuers worked around the clock using a tractor, ropes and their bare hands to try and pull him out.
But after finally dragging him to dry land, days under the fierce African sun without water or food proved too much and the elephant had to be put down.
Guides from Gache Gache Lodge on Lake Kariba, only a few minutes from where the elephant was stranded, risked their lives to climb into the mud with the animal in order to tie a rope around his body, getting slapped by his trunk in the process. Guests also took shifts in the race against time to save him.
Len Taylor, a guide at Gache Gache Lodge only a few minutes from where the elephant was stranded, climbed into the mud with the elephant and spent six hours battling to free him.
He told MailOnline: ‘Even though he was quite young, he was certainly big enough to kill us. He was extremely distressed and fearful, he was making a lot of noise and was smacking his trunk about - I got hit a few times.
'I did manage to avoid the tusks, because if you get hit by one of those it would break your leg easily.
'The biggest problem was to try and get the rope around his belly - the mud was so thick, we just couldn’t get through it with the ropes. In the end, I worked out a way of getting the rope around his neck so he could be pulled out without being strangled.
‘Once it looked like we could get him out, my biggest fear was that he would try and kill us once he was free. Elephants are extremely aggressive when they are distressed and he of course had no idea we were trying to save him - he is a wild animal so his instinct would be to kill us.
'I did not want to have to free him and only then have to shoot him in self defence. As it was, he was too weak to come after us.’
Len, 40, and the rest of the rescue team did their best to get the elephant on to his belly once he was out of the mud - giving him the best chance of getting up on his feet to eat and drink.
‘An elephant will struggle to get up if he lies on his side, unless he has an ant hill or something to lean against,' Mr Taylor said. 'We managed to get him propped up on his belly and left him alone to recover a bit overnight.
‘But when we went back the next morning, he had not managed to get up and he was just weaker. By midday, he was just suffering and had no chance of getting up, so we decided to put him out of his misery. He was dying and stressed and it was the right thing to do for him.’
Ray Townsend, who works at the lodge, said: ‘Even though he was eventually pulled out, he could not stand, could not get up by himself.'
'Time is as always crucial in these matters and he was stuck in the mud longer than we thought – three to four days with dehydration, no water, in the hot sun and slowly exhausting himself from trying to get out,' he added. 'In the end, putting him down was the kindest thing we could have done for him.
'Watching an animal die of thirst in the bush is not something we wanted to witness, or put him through. It was a sad situation, but we are glad that we made the effort we did.’
Mr Townsend explained that the decision to put the exhausted animal down came after it became clear he wouldn’t be able to stand up or survive his ordeal.
‘After an extremely long wait for this boy to get up, bearing in mind that an adult or sub adult elephant cannot be left down for too long, the decision was made by Parks and Wildlife department to euthanise him,’ he said.
Melissa Mackenzie, who was a guest at the lodge, posted an album of dramatic pictures of the desperate battle to save the stricken bull online.
She wrote on her Facebook page: ‘Although we managed to get him out, he was too weak and exhausted to stand, and unfortunately didn't survive.
'Although not a happy ending, it was still nice to see a group of people give up their time and come together to give an animal a second chance at life. They couldn't have tried harder.’
The small bull used his trunk as a snorkel as rescuers worked around the clock using a tractor, ropes and their bare hands to try and pull him out.
But after finally dragging him to dry land, days under the fierce African sun without water or food proved too much and the elephant had to be put down.
Guides from Gache Gache Lodge on Lake Kariba, only a few minutes from where the elephant was stranded, risked their lives to climb into the mud with the animal in order to tie a rope around his body, getting slapped by his trunk in the process. Guests also took shifts in the race against time to save him.
Len Taylor, a guide at Gache Gache Lodge only a few minutes from where the elephant was stranded, climbed into the mud with the elephant and spent six hours battling to free him.
He told MailOnline: ‘Even though he was quite young, he was certainly big enough to kill us. He was extremely distressed and fearful, he was making a lot of noise and was smacking his trunk about - I got hit a few times.
'I did manage to avoid the tusks, because if you get hit by one of those it would break your leg easily.
'The biggest problem was to try and get the rope around his belly - the mud was so thick, we just couldn’t get through it with the ropes. In the end, I worked out a way of getting the rope around his neck so he could be pulled out without being strangled.
‘Once it looked like we could get him out, my biggest fear was that he would try and kill us once he was free. Elephants are extremely aggressive when they are distressed and he of course had no idea we were trying to save him - he is a wild animal so his instinct would be to kill us.
'I did not want to have to free him and only then have to shoot him in self defence. As it was, he was too weak to come after us.’
Len, 40, and the rest of the rescue team did their best to get the elephant on to his belly once he was out of the mud - giving him the best chance of getting up on his feet to eat and drink.
‘An elephant will struggle to get up if he lies on his side, unless he has an ant hill or something to lean against,' Mr Taylor said. 'We managed to get him propped up on his belly and left him alone to recover a bit overnight.
‘But when we went back the next morning, he had not managed to get up and he was just weaker. By midday, he was just suffering and had no chance of getting up, so we decided to put him out of his misery. He was dying and stressed and it was the right thing to do for him.’
Ray Townsend, who works at the lodge, said: ‘Even though he was eventually pulled out, he could not stand, could not get up by himself.'
'Time is as always crucial in these matters and he was stuck in the mud longer than we thought – three to four days with dehydration, no water, in the hot sun and slowly exhausting himself from trying to get out,' he added. 'In the end, putting him down was the kindest thing we could have done for him.
'Watching an animal die of thirst in the bush is not something we wanted to witness, or put him through. It was a sad situation, but we are glad that we made the effort we did.’
Mr Townsend explained that the decision to put the exhausted animal down came after it became clear he wouldn’t be able to stand up or survive his ordeal.
‘After an extremely long wait for this boy to get up, bearing in mind that an adult or sub adult elephant cannot be left down for too long, the decision was made by Parks and Wildlife department to euthanise him,’ he said.
Melissa Mackenzie, who was a guest at the lodge, posted an album of dramatic pictures of the desperate battle to save the stricken bull online.
She wrote on her Facebook page: ‘Although we managed to get him out, he was too weak and exhausted to stand, and unfortunately didn't survive.
'Although not a happy ending, it was still nice to see a group of people give up their time and come together to give an animal a second chance at life. They couldn't have tried harder.’
Music : Infados by Kevin MacLeod
Source : DailyMail
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