[ItsGotHair]

An injured elephant appears to be seeking out humans for help after it was shot by a poacher in an act which surprised Nick Milne and his guests in Zimbabwe, according to photographs.

Ben, a bull elephant, approached the Bumi Hills Safari Lodge and the manager quickly noticed that it had a limp and appeared to be severely injured. In photographs, the elephant is looking inside and it appears that he is indeed seeking assistance.

Unfortunately there was no in-house veterinarian at the lodge because the vet had gone for the weekend.

But one kind vet offered to fly 200 miles from Harare to provide medical assistance to the elephant and arrived within six hours. In that time, Ben apparently waited patiently, supping on water and grazing, MailOnline reported.

The elephant, believed to be 30 years old, was then tranquillised and soon it was discovered that Ben had been shot because of a deep wound in his shoulder.

It is believed to have been a result of a poacher's shot - and it turned out Ben, named after the individual who treated him first, was in fact shot twice after two bullet holes were found in his ear.

Nick Milne, trust manager at the Bumi Hills Foundation, told News24: "Logic would suggest that if an animal has an injury that considerably hampers its mobility, it would not attempt the climb and would rather stay on the level ground near water."

He added: "The dart went into his rump perfectly and he only moved off a short distance in the seven minutes before he went down. He also landed perfectly on his haunches with his right side up a slope, the perfect position considering we needed to work on his left side."

Usually the the lodge's conservation manager can treat wild animals who are hurt but the individual was away for business.

It was not clear when the incident took place but Ben survived the attempts on his life after the vet treated him and disinfected his wounds. Ben now wears a tracking device to ensure his improvement can be monitored as it continues healing on the property.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016...ans-after-bei/

[Sharon]

Lucky Ben and I hope he goes and trample that poacher!

Please upload images (I've uploaded these) and videos to the site as links can be redundant if the source is altered. Thanks

[kellyhound]

these poachers pissing me off big time
Elephants are damn cool.

[Ferocity]

Awwwww =,(