As she desperately tries to revive her son from an electrocution in South India, a mother elephant gently nuzzles him with her trunk.
Video footage taken in Malampuzha, Palakkad District in Kerala shows an elephant pushing a three-year old calf around with her trunk and foot to get him to move. However, his body is still motionless.
It is a heartbreaking scene in which the mother seems to realize that her baby is gone and she gently nuzzles the child with her trunk.
They were hiking through the forest on Tuesday afternoon when the calf crossed private land to walk into a livewire.
The herd – which included the calf’s mother – were near a pump house when the fateful incident occurred.
The heartbreaking scene in which a mother elephant nuzzles her dead calf with her trunk after it was shocked by an electric wire in South India.
Here’s the heartbreaking moment a mother elephant holds her dying baby with her trunk, trying desperately to get him awake after he has been electrocuted in south India by a livewire.
A video of the scene shows the mother elephant first nudging her calf with her feet to make him move. However, his body remains motionless.
Next, she uses her trunk and moves him with her trunk. But the elephant ends up rolling the calf onto his back while his legs remain in the air.
As she realizes that her calves are dead, the mother gently nuzzles her son with her trunk, before standing beside the corpse.
Then, she slowly moves away from her calf but doesn’t turn her back towards her child.
Video of the mother elephant nudging the baby with her food (left) and then using her trunk (right) to get him to move.
Left: The mother appears to be realizing that her calves are dead and gently nuzzles them with her trunk. The mother slowly steps away from the dead calf, but she does not look back at her child when she steps back.
A wire was placed in the calf’s vicinity and it caused electrocution.
Three other elephants were found guarding the corpse of an elephant by Forest and Wildlife officers.
The officials found a live wire connected to a borewell, which they believe the elephant came into contact with – and possibly chewed.
A probe was launched in order to fully investigate the case.