Mother elephant, two calves rescued after being stuck in Isiolo mud

A family of three elephants has been rescued after being stuck in a pool of mud at Oldonyiro community conservancy, Isiolo county.

According to Daily Mail, Dr Kieran Avery was part of a small team that rescued the elephants.

Avery 34, helped rescue the animals that were stuck in mud near a dam reservoir within the conservancy.

The Mail says it took the team about two hours to free the stuck elephants.

"We suspect that the mum or one of the youngsters fell in first, and then the others went in to see if they could help because they are so loyal to each other but ended up getting stuck as well," Avery told Daily Mail.

The elephants were not injured in any way. The smallest of the group stood up straight away, it was easy for it to stand up after it was freed.

Avery said the middle-aged one took around 10 minutes to stand up and the mum took about 20-25 minutes. 

Last year, three elephants got stuck in Lake Kamnarok in Baringo North subcounty while looking for water along the Kerio valley. 

The jumbos were grazing overnight at Rimoi conservancy across Elgeyo Markwet county before trekking miles to in search of water at the diminishing lake in Baringo county.

Elephants are among endangered animal species in Kenya and the World.

Despite local and international efforts to control the ivory trade and stop the decline of elephant populations, demand for ivory has remained high, resulting in continued poaching of elephants for their tusks.

With 34,000, Kenya has the fourth largest population of elephants in the world and it is through conservation that this number will not diminish for future generations to enjoy.

The number has been gradually increasing at an annual rate of 2.8 per cent over the last three decades.

Remarkably, there has been a 96 per cent decline in poaching with 386 elephants being lost in 2013 compared to 11 elephants poached in 2020.