小象接受心肺復蘇

張彩英

Mana Srivate has performed many attempts to save lives in his more than 20 years as a rescue worker in Thailand. But he had never tried to do so for an elephant.

That changed when Mana was called into action after a motorcycle hit a baby elephant. The small animal was crossing a road with a group of wild elephants in the eastern area of Chanthaburi. Mana began trying to save the animal as soon as he could. Someone nearby took a video， which quickly went viral on social media.

During the rescue， Mana used two hands to press on the small elephants chest， which was lying on its side. His co?workers treated the injured motorcycle rider a few meters away. Both the rider and elephant were recovering and neither has serious injuries. “Its my instinct （本能） to save lives， but I was worried the whole time， because I could hear the mother and other elephants calling for the baby，” Mana said.

The elephant was the only animal he has been able to save while performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation （心肺復蘇） or CPR. “When the baby elephant started to move， I almost cried，” he said. To help the baby elephant live， Mana had to estimate where an elephants heart would be. He did so based on where the human heart sits in the body and a video he had seen online.

The young animal stood up after about 10 minutes and was taken to another area for treatment. Workers then brought the elephant back to the place of the accident in the hope of reuniting it with its mother. “The group of elephants returned，” Mana said， “when the mother heard her baby calling out.”

What difficulties did Mana meet during the rescue process？