26 December 2020
Mana Srivate has performed many attempts to save lives in his 26 years as a rescue worker in Thailand. But he had never tried to do so for an elephant.
That changed when Mana was called into action after a motorcycle hit a baby elephant. The small animal was crossing a road with a group of wild elephants in the eastern area of Chanthaburi.
Mana began trying to save the animal as soon as he could. Someone nearby took a video, which quickly went viral on social media.
During the rescue, Mana gave two-handed compressions to the small elephant, which was lying on its side. His coworkers treated the injured motorcycle rider a few meters away.
Both the rider and elephant are recovering and neither has serious injuries.
"It's my instinct to save lives, but I was worried the whole time because I can hear the mother and other elephants calling for the baby," Mana told Reuters reporters over the phone.
Mana has dealt with several road traffic accidents involving humans. The elephant was the only victim he has been able to save while performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR.
A rescue worker performs CPR on a baby elephant after a motorcycle crash in Chanthaburi province, Thailand, December 20, 2020. Picture taken December 20, 2020. KUNCHAYLEK/Handout via REUTERS
"When the baby elephant starting to move, I almost cried," he said.
To help the baby elephant live, Mana had to estimate where an elephant's heart would be. He did so based on where the human heart sits in the body and based on a video he had seen online.
The young animal stood up after about 10 minutes and was taken to another area for treatment. Workers then brought the elephant back to the place of the accident in the hope of reuniting it with its mother.
The group of elephants returned, Mana said, when the mother heard her baby calling out.
I'm Alice Bryant.
Reuters news agency reported this story. Alice Bryant adapted it for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.
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Words in This Story
motorcycle – n. a vehicle with two wheels that is powered by a motor and that can carry one or two people
compression – n. applying pressure to someone's chest in order to help blood flow through the heart in an emergency situation
instinct – n. a natural desire or tendency that makes you want to act in a particular way
cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) – n. a way of trying to save the life of someone who has stopped breathing and whose heart has stopped beating