This is the inspiring moment a mother elephant was saved when vets conducted CPR by leaping up and down on her chest as her young daughter watched on.
The 10-year-old bull and her baby calf, one, had slipped into a concrete drain amid heavy rain in Nakhon Nayok, central Thailand yesterday afternoon.
A storm had made the grass wet and muddy, causing the pair to fall into the 7ft-deep hole.
Torrential monsoon rain made it near-impossible to retrieve the pair, with vets mobilising a cherry picker to pull the huge mammals out the drain.
But after the mother hit her head and was knocked out cold, her life was suddenly at risk.
The one-year-old calf looks on with concern as her mother, ten, was jumped up and down on by a team of vets yesterday
A team of vets immediately leapt on the mother elephant after pulling her out of the hole so she would regain consciousness
The mother elephant looked worse for wear as she was hoisted out the deep golf drain by park rangers and a team of vets
The baby elephant was able with help to make her own way out of the ditch, having fallen in the previous night
Incredible video shows the mammoth three-hour operation to pull the elephants out to safety – and then save the mother.
Lead national park vet Dr Chananya Kanchanasarak said: ‘It was impossible to get near the baby while the mother was nearby so we gave her three doses of tranquilisers but she moved towards her baby before passing out and hit her head.’
She added that the mother ‘regained consciousness after being stimulated by both me and the baby’.
Park rangers feared that the mother would cry for help from the 30-elephant herd nearby if they forced their way to pull the baby, so they called the vets.
The baby elephant calf embraced its unconscious mother in worry as the group of men and women jumped up and down
The entire rescue effort took a total of three hours, with the mother elephant knocked unconscious after hitting her head
Lead national park vet Dr Chananya Kanchanasarak watches as a cherry picker pulls out the pair of elephants from the drain
Dr Kanchanasarak leads her team as they roll over the elephant so she can receive their urgent medical attention
The baby calf was stranded in the golf drain overnight before her mother fell into the 7ft crevice, knocking herself out cold
The crane is pictured putting her down after lifting her out of the ditch, with the baby soon to follow. CPR was then needed
The cherry picker crane was needed to pull the elephants out of the hole as the pair were unable to get out themselves
The baby calf appeared to be terrified as her unconscious mother was lifted out before receiving CPR from the doctors
A team set up a temporary barrier to prevent the protective and potentially violent herd from approaching.
The baby elephant couldn’t make her own way out of the 7ft drain as heavy monsoon rains lashed the national park
While the mother was passed out in the hole, the baby elephant – who was trapped the night before – suckled milk, which gave vets some relief.
A crane was used to pull the creatures out of the muddy drain before the vets continued with their work.
The moment the mother touched safe ground, three vets jumped on her to revive and wake her up as the impact of falling on her head could have hurt her.
Fortunately, the mother elephant woke up.
Park rangers and vets left the scene to allow the jumbos to reunite – and be joined by the huge herd.
Delighted rangers and emotional vets were seen watching the mother and her baby disappear back into the forest.
Dr Chananya added: ‘Despite the obstacles, the mother did not leave her baby’s side.
‘This experience touched our hearts and will be one of the most memorable rescues we’ve done.’
The vet said that both ‘mother and baby are safe’ and she thanked people for the ‘hard work of all parties involved in the rescue’.
There are an estimated 4,000 elephants in Thailand.
About half of these live in captivity in animal camps, zoos, and sanctuaries. The rest can be found roaming national wildlife parks.
The crane was needed to lift the immense mother elephant out of the deep ditch in the Thai national park yesterday
Dr Chananya said the experience touched her team’s hearts and that it was one of the most memorable rescues they’d done
The two elephants became stuck in the drain amid intense monsoon rains lashing central Thailand yesterday afternoon
A crane was mobilised to lift the mother out of the hole after she fell in, possibly to retrieve her daughter, who slipped in too
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
Rescuers and park rangers looked on as the elephants were allowed to walk back into the forest together after the efforts