The country of Thailand has been under siege by widespread flooding since July 25th of this year. The floods were caused by a monsoon called "Nock-Ten" and also by the overflowing of several dams upstream. The floods have been ravaging the country for 3 months and have had a devastating effect on human life. Currently 384 people have died with others missing. As horrible as this is, the effect on the animal life has also been terrible. There is really no way to know for sure how many domestic and wild animals have lost their lives in the floods so far as they struggled to survive.

In the submerged city of Ayutthaya, Thailand there is a small group of elephants that has been stranded on a small concrete island at an animal shelter just a few yards (meters) wide going on 2 months now. The group of 17 elephants includes 7 that are under 4 years old. Those 7 elephants were too small to escape when the rest of the almost 90-strong herd escaped after the approaching floodwaters engulfed the historic city north of Bangkok. The ones that escaped were able to just walk or swim to safety and are now in a public park on higher ground.

The adults that are stranded include also 2 males and a pregnant female. They are large enough to wade out in the flood waters to cool down from the intense heat of the day and stretch their limbs. The babies however are too small to wade in the 6 ft. (2 meter) deep water and would drown. So they are left to stand in the hot sunshine on concrete while they wait for the flood waters to recede. To keep the elephants fed on a daily basis, huge quantities of sugar cane and pineapple are brought in by boat daily. It is a very stressful situation for both the elephants and those humans that are keeping them fed. As 24 yr. old Pat Parinnam, who is helping to keep them alive said recently, "Yes the elephants are upset. I'm upset too. We're the same, humans and elephants."