Firefighters in Omkoi last week had a scare after they came across wild elephants.
The firefighters were in the area patrolling for fires when they came across a small herd of elephants. Fearing for their safety, the fled up a nearby tree and stayed there until the elephants departed after eating.
Omkoi, in the south of Chiang Mai Province, is the home of the Omkoi Wildlife Sanctuary which has a number of rare and endangered species including Asian elephants. That said, stumbling across wild elephants in the park is not that common as it has a small population.
The firefighters were in the area as part of efforts to combat constant burning across the province by villagers starting fires to improve hed thob mushroom harvests.
เจ้าหน้าที่ดับไฟป่า อมก๋อย ต้องหนีช้างป่าขึ้นไปอยู่บนต้นไม้ หลังเดินเท้าเข้าป่าเพื่อดับไฟ #สงสารป่า #สงสารเจ้าหน้าที่ pic.twitter.com/RRIAW2T961
— MiKe ChiangMai (@mike_chiangmai) March 25, 2020
Photo: @mike_chiangmai