PUBLISHED: 13 Oct 2024 at 13: 21
Lee MAI — Apple paddled frantically to stay afloat while sticking her trunk out of the inflamed river like a snorkel. However, the 2-ton, 15-year-old elephant was unfit for the flood that swept Chiang Mai, a city in northern Thailand, next month. She had already been swept over a mile downstream when a rescue team saw her.
” It was heartbreaking to see an animal but powerful struggling to stay afloat”, said Pasit Insamran, one of the volunteers, describing the event Friday. We yelled at her repeatedly,” We hoped she would follow the tone and have the power to float closer to the shore so we could save her.”
The Elephant Nature Park, a tourist hub, had Apple as a citizen. The garden immediately became completely submerged in floodwaters. Animals, or rhino operators, like Pasit, from various shelters gathered and rushed to the scene by ships. Apple was saved, but two animals from the temple passed away.
Monsoon rains typically cause devastation in , Thailand , but the flood has been especially severe this month, driven by climate change and the La Niña weather design. Authorities said the overflowing Ping River overran Chiang Mai and resulted in the deaths of two people. Officials are now warning of potential hazards in central , Thailand, including parts of Bangkok near the Chao Phraya River.
Authorities in northern Thailand issued evacuation orders last week for tens of thousands of people. Some people had to be rescued from their homes outside of Chiang Mai by boats. Within city limits, residents had to wade through waist-high water to dry land. The average elephant in Thailand, which is the country’s national animal, is submerged in water in other areas, which has increased by about 3 meters.
At Chiang Mai’s Mae Taeng district, two elephants perished at Elephant Nature Park. ( Photo: Sumit Athiprom Facebook account )
The district of Mae Taeng, 40 kilometers north of Chiang Mai city, was one of the areas that was affected by the flooding. With more than 500 elephants and 49 parks, it has the biggest concentration of elephants catering to tourists in Thailand, according to the National Elephant Institute.
A flash flood last week forced the Elephant Nature Park, the biggest sanctuary in the district, to evacuate its 126 elephants, as well as hundreds of other animals including dogs, cats, goats, cows and buffaloes. The elephants were led by park staff to what they believed was secure higher ground. However, those areas were submerged in seconds. Thirty elephants were swept up in the flood, with some surviving in vain.
The images of elephants wading in the water and the news that two female elephants, 16-year-old Faa Sai and 38-year-old Ploy Thong, who were blind, followed,  , sparked a wave of criticism directed at Elephant Nature Park. It was the only sanctuary in the world where elephants could only be submerged and the only one to lose any. On Saturday, Faa Sai and Ploy Thong were discovered in floodwaters about 3 miles from the park.
The flash flood’s severeness was brought on by the sanctuary’s founder. ” The water rose so rapidly and it was very murky”, said Saengduean Chailert, who also owns the park. She also defended herself, saying,” Evacuating more than 100 elephants is not as easy task”.
Some elephants, like Apple, were rescued by mahouts from other parks. Because interacting with new animals is challenging for even the most experienced handlers, it was a risky endeavor.