Flooding in northern Thailand last week prompted the “biggest” evacuation near Chiang Mai city.
A hundred elephants from a nature park had to be moved to the safety of higher ground, along with stranded tourists, to save them from drowning.
“It was the biggest evacuation we have ever done to save their lives; the water rose rapidly,” said Saengduean “Lek” Chailert, founder of Elephant Nature Park, reported CNN.
A video of the evacuation showed a row of elephants in belly-deep floodwater being guided by their shouting handlers called mahouts out of their pens and up a nearby mountain.
Sadly, two disabled and blind elephants reportedly drowned in their pens. Two more were swept away by the flood.
Meanwhile, in the United States, a different herd of elephants was spotted on Ninth Avenue between West 15th and Horatio streets in the Manhattan meatpacking district of New York City.
“It’s amazing! This reminds me exactly of my vacation in Africa,” said Lisa Kievit, 75, New York Post (NYP) reported.
The Kievits were among those who joined the throngs of locals and tourists who petted the gentle giants on Sunday.
It was a safe close encounter as the life-size pachyderms were sculptures made of woody reeds as part of an installation by the Coexistence Collective, a community of 200 indigenous artisans living in India’s Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, according to NYP.
The outdoor art dubbed Great Elephant Migration was intended to raise funds and awareness for wildlife conservation.
Amazingly, each wooden sculpture was a copy of a specific real-life elephant roaming the bush in Southern India, NYP reported.