At least 10 elephants were rescued by rangers as they scrambled to get them back into the nature reserve
Animals lifted by their feet after being tranquilised and carefully placed on the back of transporter trucks
Shots taken by a British conservation photographer of the 8,000-pound elephants being lifted by a crane
In order to keep them comfortable, rangers stayed with the animals, opened their airways and watered them
Jaw-dropping photographs have revealed how four-tonne African elephants were tranquilised and lifted by crane in a massive rescue operation after a herd escaped from a nature reserve.
At least 10 animals were rescued by rangers as they scrambled to get them back into the reserve from which they came.
Shots taken by a British conservation photographer capture the 8,000-pound elephants being lifted by a crane after escaping.
The 10-foot-tall creatures were lifted by their feet after being tranquilised and carefully placed on the back of transporter trucks.
In one image, the elephants can be seen taking their first steps after waking up.
In order to keep them comfortable, rangers stayed with the animals during the transport, opened their trunks with branches to make sure they were still able to breathe and doused them in water to keep them cool.
The impressive pictures were taken in Southern Africa by conservation photographer Pete Oxford (58) from Torquay, UK.
A rescue worker holds a tranquilised elephant’s truck as it is loaded onto the back of a transporter truck with another animal
Two elephants are hoisted up by their feet using a crane as a pile of knocked-out animals lie on the back of a truck
A tranquilised adult elephant on the back of a transporter truck covered in leaves and branches in an attempt to cool it down
One of the herd of 8,000lbs elephants is lifted up into the blue sky in Southern Africa to be loaded onto the back of a truck
A man in green overalls helps load another one of the tranquilised elephants onto the back of a transporter truck
Two juvenile elephants who have been branded by the rescue workers are tucked into the back of a truck to be moved home
A ranger on the back of a transporter grabs the elephants ears as it is lowered onto the platform with two others standing by
A woman holds an elephants trunk as it is lowered onto the back of a transporter by a crane where other animals are resting
A crane lowers a huge elephant, which weighs in the region of four tonnes, onto the back of a transporter truck in Africa
Rescue workers placed sticks in the trunks of the elephants to ensure they could still breath after being tranquilised
One of the elephants is hoised up by its legs, using two different ropes, after an entire herd escaped from a nature reserve
The shadow of a helicopter is seen among at least ten unconscious elephants as rangers tend to a number of them in Africa
Rangers get to work on a number of the elephants, who were branded with paint by the rescue workers in Southern Africa
A transporter truck pulls a trailer behind it with a number of elephants strapped down as rangers comfort the animals
A ranger helps a baby elephant take its first steps after being tranquilised as the adults come around to consciousness
These amazing photographs were taken by Pete Oxford, 58, from Torquay in the UK, who is a conservation photographer
The animals wake up in the nature reserve and take their first shaky steps after regaining consciousness in the nature reserve
At least three trailers were loaded with elephants in the massive rescue operation after the animals escaped a nature reserve