A family in Yunnan, southwestern China, recently received a very unusual guest.
An in.ju.red baby elephant rushed into a villager’s bedroom after separating from the herd.
The calf was only a month old and could barely walk when villagers found it.
Ba Ka village in Yunnan is no stranger to wild elephants.
Located more than 3,000 meters above the mountainside, it consists of only eight families that grow rubber trees.
One of the villagers, named Tie Wen, heard her daughter scream in the morning.
When he entered her bedroom, he saw a baby elephant had rushed inside.
Along with some of his neighbors, he was able to push the elephant out before alerting local police.
But even outside the house, the baby elephant didn’t seem to want to leave.
Instead, she hovered around the wall of houses and appeared to be scavenging for food.
Tie Wen’s neighbor, Luo Kaidong, decided to feed the baby elephant some milk.
Since then, the calf has followed him everywhere.
According to the local forestry police, the female elephant is about a month old and weighs 100 kg.
She has a 2.5 inch long left hind leg wo.u.nd that has begun to heal. However, her umbilical cord appeared to be infected.
The villagers speculated that the baby might have wandered or been ab.and.oned by livestock after being in.jur.ed.
After patching up her w.o.und, the villagers built a makeshift hut for her to live in.
They worry that the mother could return and cause havoc in the village if they were seen too close to the elephant.
But Lup Kaidong left the baby, she began to cry.
She then left her makeshift shelter and started following Luo Kaidong around.
Since then, it’s been a good balance between trying to keep the calf alive with milk and keeping their distance in case of danger from the rest of the herd.
The calf has now been sent to Xishuangbanna Wild Elephant Valley to be cared for by veterinarians there.
