Rangers boated a wild elephant calf back to its mother in Chanthaburi

Rangers got a wild elephant calf back to its mother on the morning of November 6 in Kaeng Hang Maeo district, Chanthaburi. Thai PBS reported the rescue the same day. The call came at 7:00, and the team was with the calf at 8:50. It was on the north side of Khlong Phawa Yai reservoir, in Phawa subdistrict, tangled in a net in the water.

Rapid Response Unit 9 of Protected Area Regional Office 2, based in Si Racha, worked with district officials. Parks director-general Yongyut Nakwiroj said the calf had fallen behind the herd. Wildlife director Phithak Yingyong said a stream kept the tired calf from following its mother, who had moved on with the group. Walking farther on foot risked a wider separation, so the team took the calf by boat across the water and then by vehicle along a natural route to a forest-edge meeting point.

Village headmen, territorial-defence volunteers, police, and an elephant-lovers' club joined the move. The head of the rapid unit said they were racing the gap between calf and herd. When the calf was set down, the mother walked out of the trees and took it back. Rangers said they will keep watching the herd so the calf settles and does not fall behind again, and so nearby communities stay safe. The news is this reunion. It is not a count of the herd.