As a naval officer, you never really know what your job is going to throw at you in your day to day routine. A standard patrol can bring up all sorts of crazy scenarios, or maybe nothing at all! Maybe sometimes it’s just a quiet day at the office – and then other days, you have to rescue a drowning elephant! It’s all in a day’s work!
That’s exactly what happened to this team from a naval vessel in Sri-Lanka, who happened across a rather large shape in the water – some considerable distance from the shore. Approaching cautiously, they were unsure what it was until someone realised that it was an elephant! The poor beast had somehow got into difficulty, likely being pulled out to sea by a dangerous riptide!
Although elephants are amongst some of the best swimmers for land mammals and they’re no stranger to being in the water, this big fella was obviously tired and was getting pulled further out to sea. The naval crew wasted little time in coming to the animal’s aid, with a team jumping in the water to try to rescue him. Slightly different from a usual day you might expect!
The patrol boat was joined by a backup vessel and a team of wildlife specialists, and trained divers swam out to the stricken elephant and tied a safety harness around him. With this in place, naval crews were able to gentle tow the grateful animal back to shore. All in all, it took rescuers around 12 hours to bring the animal back to safety, so we hope he thinks twice before paddling in these waters again!
The video goes on to explore some more amazing elephant rescues, including a breakout to save a trapped elephant and return him to a loving sanctuary! Raja the elephant was abused and kept in chains for years, but he was finally rescued and will spend the rest of his life being properly cared for. Also featured is an adorable story of a young elephant getting stuck down as well, and Indian villagers rallied to lift the poor baby to safety!
So, if you or anyone you know is a big fan of elephants, you need to watch this heart-warming video of the animals being rescued! And share with your family and friends! It’s wonderful to know that even in their predicaments, all animals made a full recovery. No elephants were harmed in the making of this video!