On the morning of May 11, a tragic accident in Perak, Malaysia, claimed the life of a young elephant, leaving witnesses heartbroken as the mother elephant stood vigil over her fallen calf.
According to Zulkifli Mahmood, Chief of Police in Gerik, authorities received reports around 2:50 a.m. of a collision on the East-West Highway involving a baby elephant that suddenly crossed the road. “Investigations show that the truck driver, traveling from Gerik toward Jeli, noticed an adult elephant grazing near the roadside. As the vehicle passed the adult, a young elephant suddenly emerged from the left and attempted to cross. The driver could not react in time, and the calf was struck, dying instantly,” he explained.
In a panic, the mother elephant charged at the truck, damaging its front end, though fortunately, the driver escaped unharmed. Wildlife authorities from Perhilitan were called to the scene to manage the situation. After tranquilizing the adult elephant, the team was able to control the area and safely relocate her.
The mother had remained beside her dead calf for an astonishing five hours before the intervention. Yusoff Shariff, Director of Perhilitan, said, “Our staff arrived at around 3:30 a.m. to monitor the situation and safely move the mother elephant to a safer area. We had to use sedatives before transporting her back into the forest around 9 a.m.”
The calf, estimated to be around five years old, was likely too young to survive the sudden encounter with the highway, while the mother is believed to be between 25 and 27 years old.
The next day, a heartbreaking video captured the mother elephant walking slowly along the East-West Highway, seemingly in search of her lost child. The clip, shared on TikTok by user @WafiyZulkhairi, quickly went viral, touching the hearts of Malaysians across the country. “I saw an elephant crossing the East-West Highway this morning,” the user wrote. “The mother is still searching for her calf—the one that died yesterday. It’s truly heartbreaking. The maternal instinct never fades. Even knowing her child won’t return, she keeps searching.”
This tragic incident is a painful reminder of the dangers that modern roads pose to wildlife, and of the deep, enduring bond between a mother and her child. In the quiet grief of that mother elephant, the world witnessed a story of love, loss, and the instinct that connects all living beings.