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Officials reach two out of 11 dead elephants in waterfall

Officials reach two out of 11 dead elephants in waterfall

NAKHON NAYOK: Rescuers and park officials on Wednesday (October 9) found the bodies of two of the 11 wild elephants that perished at Haew Narok waterfall, but were unable to remove the carcasses from the river.


By Bangkok Post

Thursday 10 October 2019 11:38 AM


A park official points to a dead wild elephant floating downstream from Haew Narok waterfall in Nakhon Nayok. :Photo: Bangkok Post/Disaster Response Associations Thailand

A park official points to a dead wild elephant floating downstream from Haew Narok waterfall in Nakhon Nayok. :Photo: Bangkok Post/Disaster Response Associations Thailand

Photos by the Disaster Response Associations Thailand on Wednesday (October 9) showed the carcasses downstream from the waterfall in Khao Yai National Park.

It was the first time park officials and volunteers were able to locate the bodies of any of the elephants that were found dead at Haew Narok on Saturday. One baby wild elephant and its mother survived and went back into the forest, while 11 others died in one of the largest losses of wild elephants in the country.

Chongklai Worapongsathorn, the deputy director-general of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, confirmed the discovery of the two carcasses by officials and rescuers walking upstream in heavy rain.  They were unable to pull the carcasses onto dry land since they were stuck in the swollen stream. 

The park has set up two large nets in a bid to catch the carcasses before they can drift down to Ton Sai, a canal that empties into the reservoir at Khun Dan Prakan Chon dam in Nakhon Nayok.

They are trying to prevent the rotting flesh from spoiling the water at the dam.

Read original story here.