Watch: Elephant tries to save calf trapped under lorry

Telegraph

15-05-2025

Footage of an elephant trying in vain to rescue her calf trapped beneath a lorry has provoked outrage in Malaysia.
The video shows a five-year-old male elephant pinned under a 10-tonne lorry as its mother presses her head against the vehicle in an apparent attempt to free the calf.
The one-minute clip has renewed calls to protect wildlife whose habitats are bisected by busy roads.
The incident occurred at about 2.50am on May 11 on the East-West Highway, which runs through the 74,000-acre Belum-Temenggor forest reserve. The road is a well-known crossing route for elephants and the critically endangered Malayan tiger.
Yusoff Shariff, director of the Perak Wildlife Protection and National Parks Department (Perhilitan), said his team received an alert at about 3.30am.
'A male elephant, estimated to be five years old, died after it was believed to have been struck by a truck while trying to cross the road,' he told local media.
Wildlife officers later removed the carcass and relocated the mother elephant to a safer area.
Images of the mother elephant remaining at the site for over five hours drew a wave of sympathy on social media.
Mohd Amir Faizal wrote: 'How sad for the mother, waiting for her child, but it never comes out. She kept trying to free her calf over and over again, because it was still alive at that time. But she just couldn't move the lorry, it was too heavy.'
'I could hear the mother crying out in sorrow, and I'm certain anyone who watched it would have been moved to tears,' he added. 'It's as though she's hoping her child is still alive.'
No negligence
Zulkifli Mahmood, the Gerik district police chief, said preliminary investigations found no negligence on the part of the driver.
The 28-year-old man, who was transporting poultry, reportedly saw a large elephant grazing on the right side of the road.
Believing it was safe, he continued driving, only for the calf to suddenly emerge from the forest on the left.
'The short distance made it impossible for the driver to stop in time, resulting in a fatal collision. The baby elephant died at the scene,' said Mr Mahmood.
The mother, he added, later charged at the lorry and damaged its front section. The driver escaped unharmed.
Police cited heavy fog and a lack of road lighting as contributing factors to the collision.
Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, the sustainability and environment minister, said eight elephants have died in traffic collisions across Malaysia over the past five years, three of them in 2025.
He proposed a series of measures, including establishing a 10,000-hectare elephant sanctuary and linking fragmented habitats through ecological corridors that traverse plantations, private land and forested areas.
Malaysia's works ministry announced on Monday that it would incorporate dedicated wildlife crossings into future highway designs.
'Until then, we sincerely hope that drivers will slow down and exercise caution when passing through wildlife crossing locations identified by signage and street lighting,' the ministry said in a social-media post.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies the Asian elephant as endangered, citing poaching, habitat loss and human-elephant conflict as key threats to the species' survival.