Elephant Kham Lha of Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand made a daring plunge to save her beloved caretaker. Across the river, she spots her best friend Darrick, who has shown so much care for her that she only wanted to return the kindness. While she was over with her family, she spots Darrick, and she interprets the situation as him drowning. The sight was too much to bear. She knew exactly what she had to do. In her mind, there wasn’t much time, so she swan over to him as fast as possible to save him.

In reality, Darrick was just fine to make it to shore, but being the caring elephant that she is, she had to be sure. No matter how strong the current, and no matter how far she had to swim, she was completely committed to the rescue. Seeing him make his way to safety, she still followed him because that’s just the kind of friend she is. The trust they have built in each other is a beautiful thing. Day after day as Darrick spends time watching out for Kham Lha, the more they come to find the best in each other. Whether or not Kham Lha would rescue anyone, no one could knows, but one thing is for sure, that she loves her caretaker and wouldn’t think twice about helping him in a tough spot.

While elephants are considered wild animals, it is interesting to see that with enough time an elephant will still befriend a human. Going above and beyond, she displays something even more than that. Going for a rescue like that, what’s important isn’t that she saved him or not, but that her heart was in the situation giving her courage to help.