Phetchabun park rangers rescue wild baby elephant, return it to its herd

Ronnarat Sirimakorn, chief of Phetchabun’s Tat Mok National Park, said on Wednesday that a team of rangers spotted the baby elephant stuck in a dry creek at 2pm last Thursday.

The rangers were patrolling the areas of Tat Mok Park, Nam Nao National Park and Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary in Phetchabun’s Muang district when they found the helpless calf stranded in the creek with its legs sunk into the mud.

The creek lies between the Tat Mok Park and the wildlife sanctuary in Tambon Huay Yai.

When the rangers arrived, they noticed the mother elephant walking nervously nearby.

Ronnarat said the rangers waited patiently until the mother retreated before they moved in to pull the baby elephant out of the mud.

The team then set up tents to stay overnight in the area, waiting for the herd to return to retrieve the cub.

Then late on Friday morning, the rangers found that the herd of wild elephants had returned to the area and was about 100 metres from the spot where the baby elephant was waiting.

The rangers moved out of sight and watched until they saw the calf run back to its mother before the herd retreated into the forest.

Ronnarat said the rangers were about to give up and take the calf out of the forest to be raised in a wildlife nursery when the herd returned to reclaim it.

“The rangers were about to move out of the spot when they heard the sound of the elephants, so they got out of sight to observe from afar,” the park chief added.