Chhouk, the elephant, walks again with prosthetic foot

Chhouk, an orphaned baby elephant, was crippled by a trap in Cambodia's Sprepok Wilderness area.

When conservationists found the elephant, he was severely malnourished. His leg was infected and he could barely stand.

Nick Marx, the director of Wildlife Alliance's Cambodian rescue centre, says he was sure the gentle giant wouldn't survive.

Thanks to emergency treatment that included removing 12 inches of infected tissue and a "pachyderm-sized prosthetic," Chhouk, one of the fewer than 300 Asian elephants living in Cambodia, is walking again.

Marx credits Chhouk's remarkable recovery with the elephant's "fighting spirit." Even when fitting him with a prosthetic, technicians didn't need to sedate the animal.

Chhouk is now looking healthy, having quickly adjusted to his new appendage.

"I cannot believe how well he has taken to it. Humans take time to adjust to this kind of thing, Chhouk did not need this. He just carried on as before, the prosthetic foot has not bothered him at all," Marx told the Telegraph.

Not only does Chhouk have a new foot, he has a new family, too. A 10-year-old elephant named Lucky has adopted the young elephant as her own.