Originally published 2018-10-03.
A viral clip from a while ago is now doing the rounds again. It depicts a cute elephant baby getting away from its herd to rescue a man, even though the man does not require much helping.
The bond between humans and wild animals might seem conflicting, but we sometimes come across heart-warming situations that suggest otherwise.
In this situation, an adorable baby elephant – called Kham Lha – is depicted grazing on the banks of a river along with several other elephants when she catches a glimpse of her favorite human Darrick in the river. Thinking that he may be drowning, the little one runs into the water to save him, though the video demonstrates that Darrick was swimming fine. What happens next, however, when Kham Lha came closer and held Darrick by her trunk melted our heart.
The video, posted by Educate Inspire Change, depicts Darrick thanking her and the duo hugging one another in joy. The special bond is adorable and asserts that even wild beasts react to love in the cutest way.
The young calf resides in Thailand’s Elephant Nature Park that is the home to several rescued elephants from the tourism industry and other trades.
(The Facebook video originally embedded here is no longer available.)
The baby elephant was brought to the park in 2015 and the special bond she and Darrick share has always attracted attention.
The bond is visible; the precise intention is not
The encounter is appealing because the elephant moves toward someone described as familiar to her. The caption interprets that movement as a rescue, but the video cannot establish that she believed he was drowning. A careful description can preserve the interaction without turning an imagined motive into an observed fact.
Keep the care setting in the story
This is an encounter involving a carer and an elephant at a named facility, not a general example of how strangers should behave around elephants in water. The broader interest is the relationship and the continuing work of care. The short scene can invite curiosity about that work while leaving the animal more complex than a character in a perfectly explained human rescue story.
Kham Lha and Darrick Thomson
Kham Lha and her mother, Bai Teoy, were rescued together in 2015, and Darrick Thomson of the Save Elephant Foundation, which runs Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, helped to rescue them. Park staff said that he had spent time helping her heal from her mental anguish and that she soon formed a strong bond with him and “accepted him to be part of her herd”. The video spread widely in October 2016: Thomson called to her, and she charged through the water to reach him and offered her trunk, although he was not in difficulty. By then the foundation had rescued more than 70 elephants, most of them elderly or physically compromised.
Sources: Fox 13, 17 October 2016: Baby elephant rushes to save ‘drowning’ human best friend who rescued her
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