Shortly after an elephant gave birth at the Shendiaoshan Wild Animal Nature Reserve in Rongcheng, China, she rejected the calf.
She didn't just reject him, the mother elephant stepped on him.
Zookeepers removed the baby elephant, treated his injuries, and returned him to his mother. They thought she'd mistakenly stepped on him.
But she did it again, reports the British news site, the Daily Mail.
Zookeepers then permanently removed the baby elephant from the same enclosure holding the mother.
"The calf was very upset and he was crying for five hours before he could be consoled," a spokesman said. 'He couldn't bear to be parted from his mother and it was his mother who was trying to kill him."
The baby elephant has since been adopted by the zookeepers and is making good progress.
