Off-Duty Rescue Worker Saves Baby Elephant

He revived it with 10 minutes of CPR
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 22, 2020 6:17 PM CST

Using CPR to try to revive a road accident victim is nothing new for Thai rescue worker Mana Srivate—but the victims aren't usually elephants. Mana, who has been a rescue worker for 26 years, was off duty Sunday night when he arrived at the accident scene while on a road trip with colleagues, the BBC reports. He performed CPR for around 10 minutes on a baby elephant that had been hit by a motorcycle as it crossed a road with a group of wild elephants, including its mother. His colleagues treated the injured driver.

Video of the rescue shows the elephant revive thanks to Mana's efforts. It was reunited with its mother when it had recovered enough to walk. "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 tells Reuters. "I assumed where an elephant heart would be located based on human theory and a video clip I saw online," he says. When the baby elephant started to move, he says, "I almost cried." (More elephant stories.)

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