Heartbreaking moment mother elephant tends to her baby killed by car in Malaysia

This is the heartbreaking moment a mother elephant tried to wake her dead calf that was hit by a passing car.

The baby elephant was crossing the road in Johor, Malaysia, when a black sedan smashed into it on Tuesday morning (September 1) Wildlife officials said that the jumbo was killed instantly due to the impact.

The severely damaged car was written off but the driver suffered only minor injuries.

A passerby who was gathering vegetables in the area said the mother elephant did not leave its dead baby until it was scared by the growing crowds and a gunshot that was fired to scare it away.

He said: "I happened to be in the area looking for fiddlehead greens for dinner.

The mother did not leave her baby, even though it had stopped breathing.'' The frantic mother elephant ran to her calf and tried to wake it up by pushing it on its side as it was becoming more nervous when people and traffic started to gather near them.

Park officers from the Panti Recreational Forest could not move the dead baby elephant from the roadside while the mother was nearby in case she became aggressive and attacked them.

To make the elephant leave they fired a few warning gunshots to drive it back to the forest.

After a few loud shots, the mother elephant was startled.

She ran away but stopped, briefly turning around, while still hesitating to leave her child.

She then disappeared into the trees.

The baby elephant's body was later buried in the park while the authorities investigated the incident to find whether the driver had been speeding on the highway.