The video starts with a clip of the 1-year-old elephant calf frantically trying to climb out of a mud-filled hole. As he tries to climb out he stumbles and tries to get his footing. He seems to just make it out. The clip then shows what happened before this. The baby elephant is laying down in a large cement-sided drainage hole, shaking as rain falls down on him. He lets out a scared wail and tries to right himself. The next clip shows the success of the baby elephant making climbing out of the hole and immediately walking over to its mother. Baby is safe! But the problem is the mother is laying on the ground, motionless. What happened? Reporters from Reuters described the situation that happened at the Khao Yai National Park which is in the Nakhon Nayok Province about 180 km from Bangkok. Rescue workers, including veterinarians and park staff, were called in to rescue a baby elephant that had fallen into a 7-foot-deep roadside drainage well. When they arrived they found the mother elephant pacing back and forth along side the well, very distressed. They gave the mother a shot of a tranqulizer to calm her down but unfortunately the mother fell and was knocked unconscious. Worse yet, she fell into the hole! The video shows a clip of two workers rushing to the mother elephant’s side, trying to give her CPR with full arm compressions. Then you see an earlier clip of the rescuers using a crane to lift the mother out of the hole. A dozen workers anxiously standing around in the pouring rain eager to help in any way they can. How exactly do you give CPR to an adult elephant that weighs 6,000 pounds? Some of the vets had to stand on the elephant’s chest and jump up and down to provide enough force. The entire rescue took more than 3 hours! The last clip of the video will give you a sigh of relief and make you smile as you watch the mother and baby elephant walking safely back toward the jungle. The rescue of the baby and mother elephant was a success! The rescue crew and on-lookers can be seen in the background along the road with brightly colored umbrellas. Clearly a feeling of relief for all of those involved, especially the baby and mother elephant!
