Category: Rescue Animals
-
This elephant’s leg is injured, and she’s been stranded in a well for the last 36 hours. But an entire village is coming together to lift her out — and they’re not giving up
An Elephant in a Well, and a Village That Refused to Give Up For 36 long hours, she lay trapped—her massive body wedged helplessly in a deep, narrow well. Her leg, badly injured, shook each time she tried to move. Exhausted, frightened, and in pain, the elephant let out soft, sorrowful rumbles that echoed across…
-
Trumpeting with joy, the baby elephant raced into familiar trunks—each embrace a celebration of love, memory, and found-again friendship.
After months in a rehabilitation center, a young baby elephant named Kavi took his first steps back toward the wild. He had been rescued after falling into a deep pit, injured and terrified, separated from his herd in the chaos. During recovery, Kavi often cried at night, his tiny trunk reaching into the dark, longing…
-
Lonely and grieving, the baby elephant finally found comfort—nestling beside his first real friend, a bond blooming from shared sorrow.
When he was just 2 years old, Gen Thong lost his mother in the most agonizing way possible. There wasn’t enough space at the tourist camp in northern Thailand where they lived – so she was chained to a tree, while little Gen Thong suckled from her. Their owners, members of the Karen hill tribe,…
-
Once orphaned and alone, she returned years later—eyes shining, gently guiding her baby girl to meet the humans who saved her.
All the other elephants gathered around to play nanny. Twelve years ago, Galana arrived at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) as an orphaned elephant. She’d been found alone in a patch of thick saltbush at the border of the Tsavo National Park in Kenya. She was fragile, weak and scared to not be with…
-
Blinded by circus spotlights, she now basks in quiet sunlight—each gentle breeze a reminder of her newfound peace and freedom.
Lucky the elephant started working in the circus when she was only 4 years old. Several years later she developed a terrible eye infection – but was still forced to work anyway. The harsh spotlights made Lucky’s eye infection worse until eventually she went completely blind. Elephant Nature Park Lucky was still forced to perform,…
-
After 55 years in chains, the elephant took his first free steps—tears falling as sunlight kissed his scarred skin.
For 55 years, an elephant named Tiny spent his days with chains wrapped around his body, hauling heavy logs through the woods of Thailand. “From sun up, to sun down, seven days a week, his job was to pull trees behind him,” Aaron, a rescuer from Planting Peace, said in a video for The Dodo.…
-
After 45 silent years in chains, the shy elephant touched trunks with her first friend—eyes shining with unfamiliar, tender joy.
“It is believed that Wassana would have tangibly worked in the logging industry where she was forced to contribute to the destruction of her own habitat through felling and lifting heavy logs up out of the jungle tracks,” Lilli Ecmanis, tours and education manager at WFFT, told The Dodo previously. However, most of the difficulties…
-
Exhausted and unaware, the elephant stood still—until gentle hands reached out, not to command, but to finally set him free.
The elephant, who is roughly 60 years old or older, had only been leased to Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary (BLES) in Sukhothai, Thailand, where he rubbed trunks with new friends who had also just been rescued from the industry. Nwon’s owner wanted to let Nwon retire because he could not afford to keep him –…
-
She trusted them with gentle eyes—yet the zoo ended her life without mercy, leaving a silent void where love once lived.
The senior elephant had tuberculosis (TB), a very common illness among captive elephants. But according to Toni Frohoff, an elephant biologist with In Defense of Animals (IDA), Packy didn’t show any signs of the disease, and was actually a very healthy and happy animal. “It’s devastating because the information that we have access to indicated…
-
With eyes full of hope, injured elephants walk again—each step a miracle made possible by the kindness of the ‘Jungle Doctor.’
Australian veterinarian Dr. Chloe Buiting is beloved on social media for her work with elephant amputees caused by land mines. @jungle_doctor/Instagram Here’s an elephant with a little more pep in his step. Australian veterinarian Dr. Chloe Buiting, aka the Jungle Doctor, is cherished among animal lovers on social media for her work with elephant amputees,…