Workers managed to slip a rope under the baby before the hard work of pulling her free begins This is the dramatic moment that an elephant and its baby were rescued after they got stuck in a mud lagoon. Conservation workers normally have a policy of leaving nature to fend for itself as

much as possible, unless the problem was created by humans.
On this occasion, however, they could not sit by and let the mother and calf die in such a horrible way.

Before the rescue by workers from Kapani Lodge, Norman Carr Safaris and the South Luangwa Conservation Society on the flats of the Kapani Lagoon, Zambia, the mother and calf's herd tries to rescue the pair.
When they are unable to do anything, the team - along with members of the Zambian Wildlife Authority - moves in while the herd waits on the other side of some trees.

With mud in the lagoon drying quickly, the rescue becomes a race against time. Eventually a rope is slipped under the calf's trunk before the pulling can begin.
A couple of attempts are made to release the youngster but it wants to stay with its mother and goes back, getting stuck once again.
At one point, the calf appears to be calling for help while his mother appears resigned to her fate before the rescue gets under way
Eventually, they pull the calf out further away from what could have been its muddy grave. It hears the cry of a cousin elephant and runs towards it.

Rachel McRobb from the team said: 'Most conservationists believe that man should not meddle with the natural order and that we should allow nature to run her course however cruel or grim it seems to be. We agree on the whole, unless a wildlife problem has been created by man (for instance in the case of snaring or being trapped in a fence, in which case it's justifiable to intervene) then nature should be left to her own devices. She has a plan.
'However - every rule has an exception and the dreadful plight of a baby elephant trapped in the mud of the Kapani Lagoon and her mother, who had also got stuck trying to save her yesterday had us all in a frenzy of activity. We simply could not stand by and watch them struggle and slowly die.'

Once the calf is freed, the team works to help the mother who has become tired after all the thrashing around.
She is tied to a tractor and, inch by inch, she makes her way to freedom. Eventually she is pulled from the mud and runs towards her calf and the waiting family.