A rescue operation made it possible to shelter, on Friday October 4, more than a hundred elephants from a sanctuary, trapped in the floods which have been ravaging northern Thailand for several weeks. However, efforts are continuing to extract the other pachyderms trapped by the water. Other animals are also trapped. An official at the Elephant Nature Park near Chiang Mai told Agence France-Presse that the sanctuary had a total of 126 elephants, as well as around 5,000 other animals, including cats, dogs, cows, pigs and rabbits. Around a hundred employees and volunteers helped locate 117 pachyderms from the center, reports the Thai press, nearly ten therefore remaining trapped. 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 park posted an urgent message on its Facebook page on Friday, stressing that the flooding had worsened and that it was in a critical situation, cut off from the outside world, without electricity and telephone network. “The floods are worse than before. The entire region is flooded. Now we have nowhere to go,” Saengduean Chailert, the center’s director, also wrote on Facebook, calling for “urgent help.” The Elephant Nature Park is one of the most important refuges in the kingdom. 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 National Disaster Management Service said Friday that flooding is currently affecting more than 32,000 households in 18 provinces, mainly in the North and Northeast. In Chiang Mai, the tourist capital of the North, the Ping River reached a “critical” level on Thursday due to downpours, according to local authorities. Read also | Typhoon Yagi causes floods and landslides in Thailand, Laos and Burma Add to your selections Le Monde with AFP Reuse this content
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