Floods continue to hit northern Thailand and are now affecting a famous Chiang Mai elephant park.
The Elephant Nature Park, located in Mae Taeng district in Chiang Mai province, was severely flooded.
Location of Mae Taeng district on a map of Thailand.
We have talked about this park many times during the pandemic, as the owner, Saengduean Chailert, nicknamed Lek, who is also behind the Save Elephant foundation, has done a lot to help elephants and elephant park owners in this difficult period.
See: Elephants victims of coronavirus in Thailand
Today, it is she and her elephants who need help.
Rescuers and park staff are working to save pachyderms and other animals as all roads leading to the site have been cut off by floodwaters and landslides.
View of the flooded elephant sanctuary in Chiang Mai. Photo: Elephant Nature Park.
The park posted an urgent message on its Facebook page on Friday, October 4, saying the flooding had worsened and left it in a critical situation.
The center is cut off from the outside world, whether electricity or telephone signals.
“We urgently need volunteers and animal cages, as we have to move animals to the mountains due to completely cut off roads in both directions,” one of the messages reads.
Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said Friday afternoon that 117 of the park’s 126 elephants had been rescued, but nine others needed help.
“An operation is underway,” he told reporters.
Lek, the owner of the park, said:
“A village where pigs and buffalo were previously displaced is now completely flooded.
We don’t know how many elephants will survive, but we will go back and help them.
Heavy runoff and rapid overflowing of the Taeng River, which runs through the park, began Thursday, creating what staff called “the worst flood ever experienced.”
The Taeng is a tributary of the overflowing Ping River.
Since Thursday, staff and volunteers have been trying to move all animals, large and small, to higher ground.
A staff member battles floodwaters to get a bird to a safe place in the park. Photo: Elephant Nature Park.
Some of their colleagues, including Lek, were stranded on a road because they could not reach the park due to a landslide.
Volunteers arrived with motorized rubber boats to take him to the park.
Some animals, including elephants, cows and water buffalo, were swept away by the current on Friday afternoon, and anyone who saw them was asked to contact staff.
A staff member said the park had 126 elephants and two of them were trapped in the current.
Some were saved by mahouts who carried them to higher ground, he added.
Lek said in a video posted on Facebook on Friday that floodwaters in some parts of the park could reach a depth of five meters and reach the roofs of buildings.
“I don’t know how many elephants can be saved,” she said, holding back tears.
“We cannot contact the people in the valley.”
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Chalermchai Sri-on on Friday asked authorities to urgently mobilize Chiang Mai workers and rescuers to help save the animals.
The provincial disaster prevention and mitigation department also provided them with boats.
Source : Bangkok Post
