For weeks, Pretty Boy, a gentle elephant in Zimbabwe, carried a devastating injury caused by poaching. But when help finally arrived, something remarkable happened: instead of hiding from the people who came to save him, he walked toward them.
Pretty Boy had been shot in the head in an apparent attempt to poach him for the illegal ivory trade. Somehow, he survived the attack and continued wandering through the wilderness with his wounds for several weeks.
Veterinarians from the Animal and Wildlife Area Research and Rehabilitation Trust (AWARE) were eventually alerted to the injured elephant and traveled to Mana Pools National Park to find him.
They expected that locating a wounded wild elephant might be difficult. But Pretty Boy seemed to understand that these people had come to help.
When the veterinary team arrived, the elephant approached their truck himself. He was described as an extremely gentle and relaxed bull, allowing the vets to get a close look at his condition.
What they discovered was heartbreaking: a visible hole extended into his forehead where the bullet had struck.
Despite everything he had endured, Pretty Boy remained calm around his rescuers. His decision to approach the veterinary team transformed a potentially difficult rescue into a moment that revealed something extraordinary about his trust.
After surviving a brutal attack and weeks of pain, Pretty Boy had finally found the people who could help him.
His story is a powerful reminder of the devastating consequences of wildlife poaching—and of the incredible resilience of animals who survive it.