A popular national park in Thailand issued an urgent plea for help after dozens of elephants and other animals were swept away by floods following the devastation caused by Typhoon Yagi.
The Elephant National Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand, said they were unable to access the parts of the sanctuary where scores of animals were believed to be trapped after roads were “completely flooded”.
Several tourists and animal handlers were also stranded as water began filling up the park.
Dramatic videos and pictures released by the park showed panic-stricken elephants wading through flood waters that inundated the jumbos till their bellies as volunteers moved them to a safe place.
Other videos showed water flooding a shelter with dogs sitting on tables and higher areas, barking. Dozens of cats were rescued in a cage.
“Now the elephant, the cow, the buffalo have swept away along the water through the tunnel,” the park said in a Facebook post, urging locals to alert officials if anyone spots them.
Saengduean Chailert, director of the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai province, shared a video of a boat being preparing to be sent to the trapped animals, as she broke down in tears while asking for urgent help from the government.
“The water is flooding worse than before. The entire area is flooded. The whole village is flooded… Right now, we have nowhere to go,” she wrote on social media.
Sharing the video of elephants trying to escape the flood, she said she feels especially sorry for a mother elephant who was not able to catch up with the herd as she is blind.
The mountainous city of Chaing Mai, a popular tourist destination in Thailand, is under alert for potential flooding after the Ping River burst its banks following heavy downpours.
Severe flooding after rainfall and landslides have caused devastation in northern Thailand in recent weeks after Typhoon Yagi, Asia’s most powerful storm this year, hit southern China and Southeast Asia.
The typhoon has left dozens of people dead after it struck Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Laos in mid-September, leaving a trail of destruction.
About 30 foreign volunteers, including five from America, and 100 elephants have been trapped at the sanctuary, Ms Chailert told CNN.
She said it was the “biggest evacuation we have ever done to save” the lives of the animals and it is the second time in recent months that they had to take emergency action.
The sanctuary, which houses more than 120 elephants as well as cows, buffaloes, dogs and cats, had been issuing urgent pleas for help, requesting more volunteers and equipment such as cages, boats and waterproof tarps.
“We urgently need volunteers and animal cages as we must move the animals to the mountains due to the roads being completely cut off in both directions,” it said.
“Some roads have become only two meters wide, and the road at Pang Mai Daeng is the only one still operational, but currently, it is closed due to a landslide.”
The Independent has reached out to the Elephant Nature Park for comments.
