Park rangers find baby elephant alone and trapped in mud. Then came reunion with mom
During a routine patrol in Thailand, a group of park rangers stumbled upon a baby elephant — alone and trapped in mud.
Officials said they found the baby Jan. 11 in Tat Mok National Park, according to a Jan. 16 Facebook post from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
The elephant’s mom was circling nearby, so rangers waited until she was gone. That’s when they stepped in and rescued the baby from drowning in the mud.
Photos show the tiny elephant in a thick pit of mud while rescuers console it.
Once the creature was out of the mud, rangers waited nearby overnight to see if its mom, and the herd she was with, would return to pick up the baby.
The next morning, the herd approached the baby elephant. As the huge animals got closer, rangers retreated until they saw the herd head back into the forest and were confident the baby was with them.
Facebook Translate, Google Translate and Baidu Translate were used to translate a Facebook post from Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
This story was originally published January 16, 2024 at 12:31 PM with the headline "Park rangers find baby elephant alone and trapped in mud. Then came reunion with mom."
