A heart-wrenching video captured the moment a team of veterinarians, national park staff and volunteers had to perform CPR on a large mother elephant as her baby nervously squealed.
The incident began when the team successfully rescued a baby elephant that had fallen into a manhole with its mother on Wednesday in Khao Yai National Park in the Nakhon Nayok province in central Thailand.
The 1-year-old calf fell into a drain hole and the mother refused to leave its side, guarding her baby as the young elephant was stuck, park officials confirmed to Reuters.
When the rescue team arrived, they used anesthetic shots to subdue the frantic mother elephant, but the startling commotion resulted in her halfway falling into the hole.
However, the scenario did allow the baby elephant to suckle from its mother, which calmed the calf a bit.
Rescuers used a crane to lift the mother up, but she then fainted, presumably due to stress.
The video showed staff members jumping up and down on the large creature’s body in an attempt to perform CPR to resuscitate the elephant.
The calf cried out and attempted to escape the hole as it tried to rush to its mother but struggled and slipped in the mud.
As part of the team continued with its efforts to rescue the mother, a construction digger was brought out to create an escape route for the baby elephant.
The young elephant immediately rushed to its unconscious mother’s side when the rescue efforts paid off.
The mother elephant stood up to cuddle her child as the team quickly rushed away to allow the family to return to the wild in peace.
