A baby elephant who got stuck in a watering hole was lifted out by park rangers in a heart-rending rescue attempt.
Helping hands: Rangers lift the tired calf to safety at Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa
Trapped: The animal was unable to climb out of the water as the bank was too steep for its short legs
Rangers arranged a hastily-organised rescue mission after tourists spotted the elephant in distress
Scuba instructor Corney Coetzee, 39, captured these dramatic photographs of the desperate rescue attempt at the park near Port Elizabeth.
Corney said: ‘The adult elephants were using their trunks to spray vast amounts of water on the bank of the watering hole and then putting their weight on the edges in an attempt to break it down.’
Animal rescue: The elephants tried to mount their own rescue by trampling the sides of the bank
But it took another kind of mammal to get the exhausted creature to the safety of dry land
About to charge: The men keep a wary eye on the protective mother elephant who watches nearby
Face-off: The rescuers wait to see whether the adult will walk towards its calf – or charge their vehicle
‘This unfortunately agitated the distraught adults who moved the baby away from the noise and guarded the little one.
A bit of a leg up: The ranger struggles to heave the weighty calf out of the water before it drowns
Two hands are better than one: Another ranger joins in and the animal is finally lifted on to the bank
‘With all their might they managed to grab this little baby and push it onto the banks. The little one was so tired that for a moment it could not get his legs up underneath him and it looked like he might stumble backwards back into the water.
Moments later it’s back on its feet and the men take it in the back of a pick-up truck to its mother
They offload their precious cargo and then race away to safety before the anxious parent reappears
Corney said: ‘Another pick-up truck was brought in and rangers loaded junior onto the back and drove him to as close as they could get to mom without letting her get aggressive.
Happy ending: The mother rushes to be reunited with her calf and checks it over with her trunk
Lucky escape: This little creature is unlikely ever to forget its bathtime brush with danger