The elephant had walked around for several weeks with a gunshot wound to its forehead.
An elephant shot in the forehead wandered around a Zimbabwe park for weeks with a massive hole before help could arrive. When it did, he motioned for assistance.
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The elephant, named Pretty Boy, was shot in the forehead, which experts described as "too high for a 'kill shot.'"
When helped arrived inside Mana Pools National Park, Pretty Boy walked right up to veterinarians Dr. Keith Dutlow and Dr. Lisa Marabini for aide, according to AWARE’s Facebook page.
The two vets from AWARE (Animal and Wildlife Area Research and Rehabilitation Trust), examined the elephant on June 13.
They tranquilized Pretty Boy so they could take X-ray’s and get a better understanding of what was going on in his head.
The vets discovered that the bullet was lodged just 5 centimeters from the open wound in his forehead.
They wrote on Facebook: “The X-ray, which in our opinion, confirms the presence of a 'mushroomed' bullet that has glanced off the skull and lodged under the skin - which has caused a fracture of the sinus turbinate bones at the level of the entry wound. The opacity in the sinuses adjacent to the entry wound is suggestive of pus in that area.”
Dr. Marabini told Sky News: “He was lucky. The bullet must have glanced off the surface of his skull. After the first shot he must have turned to flee. The perpetrator fired another shot at his heart, because he had another abscess in his shoulder."
Once Pretty Boy woke up from the tranquilizer drugs; he slept with his head pressed against a tree for a half hour.
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The elephant is recovering inside the park and the vets will return for routine checkups.
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