Over a hundred saved elephants break free during heavy floods at celebrated sanctuary located in northern Thailand.
Over at the Elephant Sanctuary Park, located near Chiang Mai, intense video footage and photos emerged, revealing around fifty elephants navigating waist-deep waters to find higher ground due to an imminent threat.
Saengduean “Lek” Chailert, the park's founder, spoke to CNN, noting that the water levels surged rapidly, making it necessary for the largest evacuation in the park's history to save the lives of the elephants. She classified these floods as the most severe the park has ever experienced.
Released footage showed park personnel, known as mahouts, encouraging the elephants with shoutouts like, "Go go, keep going!" as they prompted the massive pachyderms out of their enclosures and battled the high floodwaters.
While many animals found refuge on a nearby mountain on Thursday night, Saengduean explained that the hazard was far from over as dawn approached.
"There are some animals we couldn't evacuate yesterday. Thirteen grown elephants are still confined in their quarters, and they're in a state of panic," she stated.
Central Thailand has grappled with severe flooding and landslides due to torrential rainfall brought on by Typhoon Yagi, Asia's most powerful storm this year, resulting in numerous casualties as it barreled through the region during mid-September.
People in Chiang Mai, a well-liked tourist destination in Thailand, have been alerted to the potential for flooding, as water levels in the Ping River, which flows through the city, have reached alarming levels.
Given the extensive flooding affecting the park and the ongoing water rise, Saengduean mentioned that they might need to execute an evacuation for a second time.
"The situation is drastically worse than it was yesterday," she commented, adding that she had requested immediate assistance from Thai authorities.
One of the top priorities is securing boats to allow the mahouts to remain at the park with the remaining elephants, keeping them tranquil, she stated.
"We desperately need volunteers and animal crates as we must relocate the animals to the mountains due to the roads being entirely blocked in both directions," the park mentioned on Facebook.
Approximately thirty foreign volunteers are also trapped at the sanctuary, including five Americans who have been assisting at the park for several weeks, Saengduean confirmed.
Elephants are relocated from a park in northern Thailand in the face of heavy flooding. The Elephant Sanctuary Park is an elephant rescue and rehabilitation center based in the Chiang Mai countryside, which has rescued over 200 elephants from the tourism and logging industries since its inception in the 1990s. It also provides tours and volunteering programs that enable visitors to observe the animals or participate in conservation efforts.
Many of the elephants are blind or suffer from physical injuries, thus posing challenges to their escapes and complicating evacuation attempts.
In the words of Saengduean, "Among the evacuated animals, there are many sick elephants, some barely able to walk. We had to help them reach the base of the mountain. We're in desperate need of assistance."
In addition to elephants, the park serves as a home to around 5,000 other rescued animals, such as dogs, cats, horses, pigs, and rabbits – many of which were evacuated following the issuance of a flood warning by authorities in recent days.
Several communities in Chiang Mai's Mae Rim district have been submerged by water from upstream runoffs, local media reported on Thursday.
Elephants, Thailand's national animal, have experienced a notable decline in their population in recent decades due to tourism, logging, poaching, and human encroachment on elephant habitats.
Experts predict that the wild elephant population in Thailand has dwindled down to 3,000-4,000, a significant decrease from over 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century.
Despite the ongoing challenges, Saengduean plans to organize another travel to the mountains for the stranded elephants and other animals. Due to the road blockages, they urgently need volunteers and animal crates for this evacuation journey.
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