Watch Four Baby Elephants Get Rescued From Deep Well in Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka, the rescue of four baby elephants was a breath-holding drama after being innocently trapped at the bottom of a slippery and muddy well for hours. Where their mother was remains a mystery, as mothers and aunts are in almost-constant contact with the young, offering guidance and assistance.

Luckily for them, a farmer in Karandagaswewa, Horowpathana, discovered the baby elephants caught in his agro-well early in the morning on September 20. An agro-well is a ditch that is created to trap water for cultivation in dry areas, The farmer reached out to wildlife officials for help promptly. They arrived with a backhoe to dig the pachyderm out of their messy predicament.

A large, noisy crowd of villagers gathered around the gaping hole to witness the rescue.

Nonetheless, the baby elephants seemed blissfully unaware of the four-hour strugglein the video that was captured of the rescue. They are happily chowing down on palm tree leaves that were thrown down to them and enjoying being showered with sprays of water.

Workers carefully carved out the earth around them with mechanical jaws, creating a path as the babies huddled together in the corner.

At one point, they tried climbing on top of each other to escape the ditch.

Finally, the calves marched out one by one — to cheers from their saviours — to higher ground and into the brush when the path was finally finished.

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