Shocking footage captures the moment an elephant was chained down during a traumatic birth, nearly trampling her calf in distress.
An elephant handler risked his life to pull the newborn baby from beneath its mother, after it had endured a difficult three day birth.
Shocking footage captures the moment an elephant was chained down during a traumatic birth in Thailand – with one handler getting kicked trying to pull the calf to safety
The elephant centre’s manager Patthanan Khantipsukphan said the birth had been a complicated one but both mother elephant and baby had recovered afterwards.
An elephant handler risked his life to pull the newborn baby from under its mother, after it had endured a traumatic three day birth. The mahout was kicked across the enclosure during the labour
She said: ‘The management, vets and mahouts attended the labour of 16-year-old spider, a taxi elephant at the park.
Distressing footage shows the elephant chained down and almost trample her new brood as the handler is swept off his feet trying to bring her under control
‘Unexpectedly the mother was in pain and went into sudden labour when the baby burst out and the cord was wrapped around it.
During the birthing, one handler (mahout) was injured. The center manager said: ‘The mahouts were brave to get the baby out and one was kicked. He was injured a little but he’s OK.’
Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach said: ‘Captive elephants usually are not able to socialise normally with other elephants, so will lack experiencing motherhood in family units or even interaction with new-borns