Director of the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai province, Saengduean Chailert, posted a video of the panic-stricken elephants splashing through muddy waters and asked the government to send urgent help.
The park falls under the remit of the Save the Elephant Foundation, one of Thailand’s biggest elephant conservation NGOs.
One of the foundation’s officers told reporters that aside from 126 elephants, there were around 5,000 animals –- including dogs, cats, cows, pigs and rabbits — stuck in the floods.
Sources said more than 100 staff and volunteers were able to safely transport 117 of the elephants to higher ground.
The Asian elephant is classified as endangered by the IUCN, and contact and conflict between humans and the species is common in Thailand.