Two elephants fell into a 7ft deep hole during a storm and the mother lost consciousness with her head inside the hole along with her baby.
This is the heartwarming moment when veterinarians performed CPR on a mother elephant by leaping up and down on her chest while her young daughter looked on.
The 10-year-old bull and her one-year-old calf had fallen into a concrete drain in Nakhon Nayok, central Thailand, yesterday afternoon during heavy rain.
The grass had become wet and muddy due to a storm, causing the pair to fall into the 7ft-deep hole.
Torrential monsoon rain made retrieving the pair nearly impossible, with vets using a cherry picker to pull the massive mammals out of the drain.
However, after hitting her head and being knocked out cold, the mother’s life was suddenly jeopardized.
Incredible moment vets save elephant in front of nervous elephant by jumping up and down on him to give CPR.
The incredible video shows the three-hour operation to rescue the elephants and save the mother.
‘It was impossible to get near the baby while the mother was nearby, so we gave her three doses of tranquilizers, but she moved towards her baby before passing out and hitting her head,’ said lead national park vet Dr Chananya Kanchanasarak.
She went on to say that the mother “recovered consciousness after being stimulated by both me and the baby.”
Park rangers feared that if they tried to pull the baby, the mother would cry for help from the nearby 30-elephant herd, so they called the vets.
Incredible moment vets save elephant in front of nervous elephant by jumping up and down on him to give CPR.
A team erected a temporary barrier to keep the protective and potentially violent herd at bay.
While the mother was unconscious in the hole, the baby elephant, who had been trapped the night before, suckled milk, providing some relief to vets.
Before the vets could continue their work, a crane was used to pull the creatures out of the muddy drain.
Three vets jumped on the mother as soon as she touched safe ground to revive and wake her up because the impact of falling on her head could have hurt her.
Thankfully, the mother elephant awoke.
Park rangers and veterinarians left the scene to allow the jumbos to reunite and be joined by the massive herd.
Rangers and emotional vets were seen watching the mother and her baby vanish into the forest.
‘Despite the obstacles, the mother did not leave her baby’s side,’ Dr Chananya added.
‘This experience touched our hearts and will go down as one of our most memorable rescues.’
The vet stated that “mother and baby are both safe,” and she thanked everyone for their “hard work on behalf of all parties involved in the rescue.”
Thailand is home to an estimated 4,000 elephants.
Approximately half of these animals are kept in captivity in animal camps, zoos, and sanctuaries. The remainder can be found in national wildlife parks.
The mother elephant fell head first into the golf ditch, with its legs scampering in the wet mud as it tried and failed to get out.