A rescue operation on Friday sheltered more than a hundred elephants from a sanctuary, trapped by the floods which have been ravaging northern Thailand for several weeks.
Around a hundred employees and volunteers made it possible to relocate 117 pachyderms from the Elephant Nature Park center, near Chiang Mai, to higher ground, reports the Thai press.
Efforts are continuing for the others left behind, it is indicated.
A site manager told AFP that the sanctuary had 126 elephants, as well as around 5,000 other animals, including cats, dogs, cows, pigs and rabbits.
For several weeks, northern Thailand has been plagued by devastating floods, amplified by the passage of Typhoon Yagi in mid-September, and the torrential rains that fall on the region during this season.
“The floods are worse than before. The entire region is flooded. Now we have nowhere to go,” Saengduean Chailert, the center’s director, wrote on Facebook, calling for “urgent help.”
Elephant Nature Park shared images of the pachyderms struggling with water in their stomachs. In another video, two men try to evacuate around ten cats put in a cage.
The center is one of the largest of its type in the kingdom.
The National Disaster Management Service said on Friday that flooding was currently affecting more than 32,000 households in 18 provinces, mainly in the north and northeast.
In Chiang Mai, the northern tourist capital, the Ping River reached a “critical” level on Thursday due to downpours, according to local authorities.
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