Where's an ark when you need one? Animals trapped by Thai flood devastation try to flee the rising tide

By James White


Water-logged: Zebras plough through the waters at Safari World in Minburi District, Bangkok, Thailand, which has been inundated by flooding


Terrified and with nowhere to go but the small areas of dry land that remain, these are the animal victims of the flooding that has devastated Thailand.

In Ayutthaya, a distressed group of elephants is facing its second month cut off by the stagnant waters as they shelter on a concrete island at an animal sanctuary.

The group of 17 include seven animals aged under four years who were too small to flee when the rest of their herd were led to safety in the city north of Bangkok.


Gimme shelter: The zebras wander around Safari World where they were forced to flee even deeper water


No room on the boat: Elephants are stranded on the concrete island at the conservation park in Ayutthaya where they are facing a second month cut off


Sad sight: An elephant drinks floodwater at the deluged site north of Bangkok

Distressed: Deer stand in the floodwaters at the wildlife park Safari World in Bangkok after half of it was submerged last night


The adults among them - including two males and a pregnant female - can frolic in the water, stretch their limbs and cool down. But the little ones cannot because they would drown if they stepped into the 6-foot-deep water.

'Yes the elephants are upset. I'm upset too,' keeper Parinnam said. "We're the same, humans and elephants.'

Elsewhere, hundreds of animals living in Safari World, Bangkok, were rescued and moved to higher ground after their enclosures were flooded overnight. Zebras and deer were among the animals affected.

Saved: A leopard kitten is bottle fed in a wildlife rescue centre in Phnom Tamao zoo near Phnom Penh, Cambodia, after the region also suffered flooding. The tiny leopard was found with another by a fisherman near floodwaters


Elsewhere in Thailand, flooding at the Honda motor factory at Ayutthaya province has caused immense damage to the local industry.

But it has also led to a shortage of essential car parts to UK, U.S. and Canada Honda plants resulting in production being halved in those countries.

Workers at Honda's Swindon factory have been told work has been cancelled for tomorrow and Friday.


Not bad for everything! These wading birds were in their element at the Bangkok Safari World

Car pool: An aerial view of submerged cars at the Honda Motor factory in Ayutthaya province, Thailand, which has been caught up in the country's flooding


A spokesman for the plant said: 'We don't know when work will resume.'

The floods have killed more than 380 in Thailand with areas of the country cut off from food and aid supplies

In the worst floods in half a century, many of Bangkok's government-run shelters sit largely empty, even as the submerged streets in some of the city's hardest-hit areas are still bustling with a constant stream of people wading, floating and boating in and out.

The city says it has no estimate for the actual number of Bangkok's nine million residents affected by the deluge, but population figures suggest they have impacted a far greater number than the 11,000 who have moved into the city's evacuation centers.

High and dry: Aerial view shows cars standing on a bridge surrounded by floodwaters at the Honda motor factory in Ayutthaya province, Thailand


Don Muang district alone - which the government says is nearly 100 percent flooded - is home to 166,000 people.

Many in Bangkok's 15 flooded districts have likely moved in with relatives or friends in unaffected areas, but swamped neighborhoods still show signs that life goes on despite disaster.

Along Don Muang's Chang Akat Uthit Road, the neighborhood duck restaurant was closed.

So were the two convenience stores, the gold shop and even the Party House pub.

Life buoy: Thai flood victim in a small bath tub shaped bucket paddling with flip-flop sandals past a flooded Toyota dealership in Bangkok


The car wash was deserted except for two Honda hatchbacks submerged in the driveway, and a construction site with the sign advertising "Cheap Land For Sale" was quiet.

But in the middle of the street people were ferrying supplies into the neighborhood, some carrying jugs of cooking oil, sacks of rice or styrofoam boxes of fresh food, while others were leaving, carrying valuables such as TVs and electric fans toward drier ground.

The Thai Red Cross Society, said the group has been sending 3,000-3,500 relief packs every day into flood-hit neighborhoods in Bangkok as well as the nearby provinces of Pathum Thani and Nonthaburi.


Waterway: Thai flood victims pass Toyota cars at the flooded Toyota Bangkok branch in Don Mueang district of Bangkok, Thailand


Row your boat: Thai flood victims passing the flooded Toyota car showroom in Bangkok, Thailand


Driven out: An aerial view of the Honda motor factory buildings submerged by floodwaters at Rojana Industrial Estate in Ayutthaya province, Thailand


source:dailymail