As local authorities evacuated visitors from their hotels and closed shops in the city center, two elephants drowned in flash flooding in the popular Thai tourist hotspot Chiang Mai, according to their sanctuary on Sunday ( Oct 6 ).
An individual at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai state, who gave her title as Dada, reported to AFP that more than 100 elephants had been moved to higher ground to avoid quickly rising flood waters.
But two animals- named in nearby advertising as 16-year-old Faa Sai and 40-year-old Strategy Thong, who was deaf- were found dying on Saturday.
The chairman of the Elephant Nature Park in northeastern Thailand, Saengduean Chailert, told local press,” My worst dream came true when I saw my elephant floating in the water.”
” I will not let this happen again, I did not make them run from such a storm again”, she said, vowing to move them to higher ground back of next month’s rain.
Strategy Thong, who lost her flock during the storm, was swept aside by the raging river despite the diligent efforts of her caregiver,  , said the , Elephant Nature Park in a Twitter post on Saturday evening.
Faa Sai had ventured close to the river during the storm, but she was taken by the current, to, despite the efforts of the character garden crew.
About 1 km upstream of the garden, both Faa Sai and Ploy Thong were discovered dead.
Faa Sa was saved in November 2007 while Ploy Thong was rescued in 2018 from an elephant-riding station in Pattaya. Having formerly worked in the checking business, Ploy Thong was rescued in November 2018.