This is what we call a heroic act of jumbo proportions.
Veteran rescuer, Mana Srivate, can now proudly add “Dumbo resuscitation” to his list of unique skills on his resume after bravely reviving a baby elephant who was hit by a motorcyclist while crossing a road with his family in the eastern Chanthaburi province, Thailand.
Srivate was no stranger to performing resuscitation efforts on ailing victims thanks to his 26 years as a rescuer. So when he was called to assist the injured animal on a road trip late Sunday, he immediately took action when he encountered the groaning mini-mammoth lying motionless on his side.
“My instinct is to save lives,” said Srivate, whose brave rescue efforts were captured in a video that is now viral. “But I was concerned all the time because I can hear the mother and other elephants calling for the baby.”
Without any specialized elephant CPR training, Srivate gave two-handed compressions to the small tusk, while his colleagues nursed the biker Anan Cherdsoongnern, 53, a few feet away. Cherdsoongnern suffered only minor injuries.
“I assumed where an elephant’s heart would be based on human theory and a video clip that I saw online,” Srivate said. Then the baby elephant [was] I started to move and I almost cried. “
After a grueling 10 minutes of touch-and-go tension, the bruised but stable baby elephant finally got up and was then rushed to another location for further treatment.
After receiving a clean bill, Srivate’s trunk-wielding patient was returned to the accident site in hopes of reuniting with his herd of wild pachyderm. The elephants soon reappeared when the mother heard the baby calling for her.
Despite being a seasoned rescuer, Srivate said the baby elephant was the only victim he could have revived through CPR.