These incredible images show the dramatic moment a mother elephant and her baby were saved from drowning in a mud lagoon.
Conservation workers joined forces for the rescue after finding the animals stuck in the Kapani Lagoon at Norman Carr Safari Park, in Zambia.
The herd tried unsuccessfully to drag the mother and calf to safety before workers from the South Luangwa Conservation Society and Zambian Wildlife Authority took matters into their own hands.
With the family of elephants looking on, the team slipped a rope under the calf’s trunk and attempted to free her from the mud.
The rescue attempt was hindered by the drying mud and the young elephant’s reluctance to leave her mother.
The infant wailed as she was eventually dragged from the lagoon, and raced to join her waiting family while the rescuers attention turned to the mother, who appeared tired from the struggle.
Attempts to free her with man-power alone failed and the rescuers were forced to bring in a tractor.
The huge beast was tied to the machine and gradually pulled from the mud.
The mother was finally freed and ran for freedom towards her baby and waiting herd.
Speaking after the rescue, team member Rachel Mc Robb was reported as saying: “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.”