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really, really dangerous. >> the calf is eight months old and enormous, posing a serious threat to rabbit and mark's safety. >> they weigh 200 pounds when they're born, and this was eight months of good food and lots of mom's milk. >> we could not get in there, so our option was to use the ropes. >> their plan is to harness the calf with a rope attached to the jeep and pull. the calf has been in the well for hours and is exhausted. its mother is still nearby, so a quick rescue is essential. the calf has stirred up mud, and the sides of the pit are extremely slippery. >> i was terrified the rope would pull taut and one of them would trip and fall in with the calf. it's very dangerous. >> the baby elephant who they think is female, has turned toward the direction of its mother's cries which unfortunately is also the steepest side of the well. in the jeep, vicki describes what she's seeing.
>> when we got there, we saw the female was standing at the edge and she was frantic. >> the team knows this elephant. she's called zomba, and she's a large, powerful matriarch. >> being dominant and experienced as a mother, she was going to be a bit tougher to persuade to leave the calf alone. >> elephants are extremely devoted to their young. even though she recognizes the researchers, zomba doesn't want to leave her calf. the enormous elephant lunges back and forth, then nearly backs into vicki's jeep. >> an angry, scared mother elephant is very, very likely to attack. she weighs more than the land rover was driving, so if she wanted to, she could have flipped the car. >> vicki is putting herself in an extremely dangerous position, but she knows their only hope of saving the calf is to scare zomba away temporarily. vicki drives forward and starts shrieking.
>> come on, sweetheart. so robert is trying to turn her and bring her to the side that is shallow. apparently she doesn't think that that is a good idea. >> the engine noise further stresses the trapped calf. >> you can imagine the sound of a land rover engine running over. it's basically like shouting at them constantly. oh, baby, i'm sorry. you fell in a well, you silly girl. >> the team members have to coordinate carefully to avoid either man falling into the pit. >> go? >> as vicki waits for the right moment to hit the gas, robert tugs on the rope and nearly loses his footing. >> what they're trying to do is get the rope under the tail as best. the trouble is the water is so deep in the bottom that it floats on the surface. >> 30 minutes later, they've
>> the amboseli elephants trust us. they know we're not a threat to them, so we don't break that kind of position lightly, but when you do break it, you have to make sure you do it in a convincing way. so i was behaving very, very strangely, and she didn't like that. >> vicki's tactic works. zomba retreats across the savanna for the moment. a co-worker in the second jeep blocks zomba from returning, while vicki drives back to the well. her colleagues, robert and mark, get out of the jeep. vicki stays at the wheel where she keeps the videocamera recording and a watchful eye on zomba in case the group is forced to make a hasty retreat. >> if somehow the mother get back and find us there, out of the car, struggling with the calf, i don't know what would have happened. it would have been really,
>> you can tell that they're desperate to be together and they're very, very happy once they are together. >> once she has the calf, she reaches for him, brings him to her, stands and lets him suck klg, and she's not threatening us, she's not even particularly vigilant to the car. she's just happy to be back with her baby. i have to say, i was crying by the time he got back to his mother. i was just so happy. it felt so fantastic. >> the happy reunion is even more heartwarming in light of a spike in african elephant deaths at the hands of poachers eager to cash in on the valuable ivory tusks. >> every other day you wake up, every other day it's just news, bad news about elephants. >> it's successes like these that keep vicki, robert, and their colleagues committed to protecting elephants.
>> come on, sweetheart. so robert is trying to turn her and bring her to the side that has the shallow. apparently, she doesn't think that that is a good idea. >> the engine noise further stresses the trapped calf. >> you can imagine the sound of a land rover engine running over. it's basically like shouting at them constantly. oh, baby, i'm sorry. you fell in a well, you silly girl. >> the team members have to coordinate carefully to avoid either man falling into the pit. >> go? >> as vicki waits for the right moment to hit the gas, robert tugs on the rope and nearly loses his footing. >> what they're trying to do is get the rope under the tail as best. the trouble is the water is so deep in the bottom that it floats on the surface.
>> you can tell that they're desperate to be together and they're very, very happy once they are together. when she sees the calf, she reaches to him, brings him to her, stands and lets him suckle. she's not threatening us. she's not even particularly vigilant to the car. she's just happy to be back with her baby. i have to say, i was crying by the time he got back to his mother. i was just so happy. it felt so fantastic. >> the happy reunion is even more heartwarming in light of a spike in african elephant deaths at the hands of poachers eager to cash in on the valuable ivory tusks. >> every other day you wake up, every other day it's just news, bad news about elephants. >> it's successes like these that keep vicki, robert, and their colleagues committed to protecting elephants. >> it is the best feeling ever you can imagine. it is really moving.
posing a serious threat to robert and mark's safety. >> they weigh 200 pounds when they're born, and this was eight months of good food and lots of mom's milk. >> we could not get in there, so our option was to use the ropes. >> their plan is to harness the calf with a rope attached to the jeep and pull. the calf has been in the well for hours and is exhausted. its mother is still nearby, so a quick rescue is essential. the calf has stirred up mud, and the sides of the pit are extremely slippery. >> i was terrified the rope would pull taut and one would trip and fall in. it's very dangerous. >> the baby elephant who they think is female, has turned toward the direction of its mother's cries which unfortunately is also the steepest side of the well. in the jeep, vicki describes what she's seeing. >> come on, sweetheart.
female was standing at the edge and she was frantic. >> the team knows this elephant. she's called zomba, and she's a large, powerful matriarch. >> being dominant and experienced as a mother, she was going to be a bit tougher to persuade to leave the calf alone. >> elephants are extremely devoted to their young. even though she recognizes the researchers, zomba doesn't want to leave her calf. >> push her, that's it, yes. >> the enormous elephant lunges back and forth, then nearly backs into vicki's jeep. >> an angry, scared mother elephant is very, very likely to attack. she weighs more than the land rover was driving, so if she wanted to, she could have flipped the car. >> vicki is putting herself in an extremely dangerous position, but she knows their only hope of saving the calf is to scare zomba away temporarily. vicki drives forward and starts shrieking. >> the amboseli elephants trust
us. they know we're not a threat to them, so we don't break that kind of position lightly, but when you do break it, you have to make sure you do it in a convincing way. so i was behaving very, very strangely, and she didn't like that. >> vicki's tactic works. zomba retreats across the savannah, for the moment. a co-worker in the second jeep blocks zomba from returning, while vicki drives back to the well. her colleagues, robert and mark, get out of the jeep. vicki stays at the wheel where she keeps the videocamera recording and a watchful eye on zomba in case the group is forced to make a hasty retreat. >> if somehow the mother get back and find us there, out of the car, struggling with the calf, i don't know what would have happened. it would have been really, really, really dangerous. >> the calf is eight months old and enormous.