BANGKOK—Rangers at a national park in northeastern Thailand have rescued six baby elephants that were trapped in a mud pit.
Park officials said the elephants were unable to climb up the pit’s slippery banks. Rescuers took five hours on Thursday, March 28, to dig a path for them to clamber out.
Thap Lan National Park rangers prepare to extract six baby elephants stuck in a muddy pond at Thap Lan National Park, Nakhon Ratchasima province, northeastern Thailand, on March 28, 2019. (Department of Natural Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation via AP)
A video obtained by Rangers shows Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) officials digging a slope into a muddy pond in Thap Lan National Park, about 100 miles (160km) from Bangkok.
The baby elephants climb one by one from the muddy ditch. Officials and onlookers are heard cheering as the last elephant finds its feet on solid ground.
Two of six baby elephants are stuck in a muddy pond in the Thap Lan National Park, Nakhon Ratchasima province, northeastern Thailand, on March 28, 2019. (Department of Natural Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation via AP)
The head of the park, Prawatsart Chantep, said rangers patrolling the park’s forest areas found the animals stuck in the pit on Wednesday afternoon and at nightfall, one group of rangers left to get help while another group remained with the elephants.
Thap Lan National Park rangers prepare to extract six baby elephants stuck in a muddy pond at Thap Lan National Park, Nakhon Ratchasima province, northeastern Thailand, on March 28, 2019. (Department of Natural Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation via AP)
Prawatsart said there were signs that a herd of elephants believed to be related to the trapped infants was circling the area.
It was unclear how the elephants became trapped.
Thap Lan National Park rangers prepare to extract six baby elephants stuck in a muddy pond at Thap Lan National Park in the Nakhon Ratchasima province, northeastern Thailand, on March 28, 2019. (Department of Natural Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation via AP)
