Thai elephant and baby saved in dramatic rescue

Handout pictures (right) released by Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation shows an adult and infant elephant during the rescue operation, and walking together afterwards.

Veterinarians and park staff pulled off a dramatic rescue of a pair of elephants in Thailand this week that saw the use of a boom lift, a digger and the resuscitation of an unconscious mother by three people.The rescue took place in the pouring rain on the outskirts of the Royal Hills golf course in Nakhon Nayok province early on Wednesday, after a one-year-old elephant fell into a roadside drainage hole.Its distressed mother, believed to belong to an elephant herd travelling through the nearby jungle, stayed with the infant as it was unable to climb out of the steep pit.The pair were discovered by a passing resident, who quickly alerted wildlife officials and Khao Yai National Park authorities to the pachyderm’s plight.The distressed mother stood guard over her calf, according to national park staff, but also fell in shortly after she was sedated.Rescuers used a truck-mounted boom lift to pull the mother out before climbing on top of her to perform simultaneous cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) as a digger cleared away earth so the anxious calf could climb out from the slippery mud.The calf began suckling its mother, who soon regained consciousness.The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plants Conservation confirmed that the pair had safely returned to the jungle.