An animal sanctuary in Thailand has appealed for help via social media after torrential flash floods forced the evacuation of 126 elephants and killed two.
Pictures released by Elephant Nature Park, which is sited near the northern city of Chiang Mai and is the biggest sanctuary in the district, showed elephants wading through belly-deep floodwaters, their trunks poking out of the murky waters.
Park workers took the elephants to higher ground, but those areas were under water in minutes. Thirty elephants were caught in the flood, with some struggling to stay afloat.
The images of elephants struggling in the water and the deaths of 16-year-old Faa Sai and 38-year-old Ploy Thong, who was blind led to a torrent of criticism directed at Elephant Nature Park.
‘The water rose so rapidly and it was very murky,’ Saengduean Chailert, who also owns the park told The New York Times. Adding, ‘evacuating more than 100 elephants is not as easy task.’
Wildlife conservationists at the park are now calling for equipment and volunteers to aid rescue work as flooding continues.
Elderly Elephant Home
The sanctuary, established in 2003 as a permanent sanctuary for elephants rescued from the logging and tourism industries, is also home to injured, neglected and elderly elephants as well as other rescued animals.
Staff said in a Facebook post that some of the elephants had been swept away by the flood, while another nine are still at large in the park.
‘This year’s floodwaters have been the highest and most severe we’ve ever experienced,’ Saengduean Lek Chailert, the founder of Elephant Nature Park, said in a post on Instagram.

‘Even high ground, such as the disabled dog kennel, was flooded, forcing us to evacuate them urgently.’
The strong flood caused significant damage to large areas of trees and grasslands in the park,
Food and other necessities for the remaining elephants must be sent via boat as some areas are inaccessible to trucks, while rescued elephants headed for the mountains where they will be safe from the flooding.Â
The park called for assistance and more volunteers to join the rescue operation as roads have been entirely cut off in both directions.

‘What we need most right now are boats, small animal cages, and waterproof tarps ( tarpaulins) as the area is completely flooded, and we can only relocate them to the mountains,’ the park said on Instagram.
In addition, the park said it had lost electricity and telephone network coverage.
Thailand’s Floods
Thailand’s monsoon rains frequently lead to disruptions, but this year the flooding has been especially severe, influenced by climate change and the La Niña phenomenon.
In recent weeks, northern Thailand has suffered severe flooding and landslides due to Typhoon Yagi, the most powerful storm to hit Asia this year.
The overflowing Ping River has inundated Chiang Mai, resulting in the deaths of two individuals, according to authorities. Officials are now cautioning residents in central Thailand, including certain areas of Bangkok near the Chao Phraya River, about potential flood risks.
Elephants, Thailand’s national animal, have seen their wild population decline in recent decades due to threats from tourism, logging, poaching and human encroachment on elephant habitats.
There are about 3,800 elephants in captivity in Thailand, and almost all of them are involved in the tourism trade. Experts estimate the wild elephant population in Thailand has dwindled to around 4,000, a decline from more than 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century.