Spotting her calf with his leg stuck in a hanging tire toy, a mother elephant at a Thai sanctuary had the funniest response. The relatable interaction between mom, baby, and the tire was caught on camera.
Two-year-old elephant calf Perm Poon, who resides at Samui Elephant Haven in Bophut on Thailand’s Koh Samui island with his mom, Aom, got himself stuck while playing alone.
“Mummy! Help me, I’m stuck!” Haven staffers captioned the video. Aom, mere meters away, snorts and grunts when she sees her calf in a tangle and runs quickly to his aid.
Aom grabs the tire with her trunk while impatient Perm Poon wriggles around, eventually helping free him from his tangle. The little lad turns toward his mom as if to thank her, and then comes Aom’s hilarious comeback: she lifts the offending tire into the air and hurls it toward the ground.
According to the sanctuary, Aom is a protective mother; so much so that Perm Poom is not yet allowed to play with bigger elephants. She even refused to be separated from her baby while boarding the rescue truck back in 2019, insisting on walking across the island to their new home in the sanctuary.
The pair are joined at the hilly haven, overlooking the Gulf of Thailand and Koh Phangan, by Aom’s older daughter, Kwan Samui.
Samui Elephant Haven, founded by 37-year-old Maew Suriya, has rescued 14 elephants from exploitation—including from trekking and logging enterprises, circuses, and street begging—since 2018.
He explains, “We are motivated by a desire to free elephants from a hard life working in antiquated forms of elephant tourism, and provide a caring home where the elephants can recover from the trauma of their past, and live in nature with peace and dignity.”
