Mana Srivate had been working as a rescuer in Thailand for 26 years and had never managed to revive anyone with CPR.
On the night of December 20, 2020, he was traveling off duty when he saw a herd of wild elephants crossing a road in Chanthaburi province. A motorcycle collided with a calf. Mana did not hesitate: he knelt beside the animal and began chest compressions with both hands while his colleagues tended to the motorcyclist a few meters away.
He had never treated an elephant before. He was trained to save humans, so he estimated where the animal’s heart would be based on a video he had seen online. Ten minutes later, the elephant stood up. They took it away for examination and then returned it to the same place, where its mother was waiting for it. The motorcyclist also recovered without serious injuries. Of all the hearts Mana had tried to revive during his career, the first one that truly began beating again was that of a baby elephant.
