A rescue operation made it possible to shelter, on Friday, October 4, more than a hundred elephants from a sanctuary, trapped in the floods that have been hitting northern Thailand for several weeks. However, efforts continue to extract the remaining pachyderms trapped in the water. Other animals are also trapped.
An official at the Elephant Nature Park near Chiang Mai told Agence France-Presse that the sanctuary had a total of 126 elephants, as well as around 5,000 other animals, including cats, dogs, cows, pigs and rabbits. A hundred employees and volunteers helped locate 117 pachyderms at the center, according to Thai press reports, leaving almost ten trapped.
Elephant Nature Park shared images of the pachyderms struggling with water in their stomachs. In another video, two men try to evacuate a dozen cats locked in a cage.
The park posted an urgent message on its Facebook page on Friday, stressing that the flooding had worsened and that it was in a critical situation, isolated from the outside world, without electricity or telephone network. “The floods are worse than before. The entire region is flooded. “Now we have nowhere to go.”Saengduean Chailert, director of the center, also wrote on Facebook, demanding a “urgent help”. The Elephant Natural Park is one of the most important refuges in the kingdom.
For several weeks, northern Thailand has been hit by devastating floods, amplified by the passage of Typhoon Yagi in mid-September, and by the torrential rains that fall on the region during this season.
The National Disaster Management Service said on Friday that flooding is currently affecting more than 32,000 homes in 18 provinces, mainly in the north and northeast. In Chiang Mai, the tourist capital of the North, the Ping River has reached a level ” critical “ Thursday due to downpours, according to local authorities.
