Man’s best friend is not always a dog

I have always had a particular fondness for elephants. I cannot really say when it first it began; I just know that as far back as I can remember I have been held in awed by them. More often than not, I choose to wear my silver elephant pendant on a chain around my neck (and no, I don’t wear elephant earings, dresses or ivory either). So it was not surprising that this story caught caught my eye from Naharnet:

Elephant Saves Children from Deadly Waves in Thailand

Several children who were on a Thai beach when the tsunami struck were saved by an elephant, a British tourist said Wednesday. The elephant had been brought to the beach in the resort of Phuket to entertain the children, Laura Barnett, 40, told Britain's Press Association news agency. The youngsters were put on the back of the animal by its keeper, enabling them to escape unscathed as the killer waves approached, she said.

But the aid rendered from the mighty tuskers does not end in saving lives in the Tsunmani disaster and and the India Express reports:

Elephants, Thailand’s ancient war vehicles, are being brought in to help disaster workers retrieve and transport bloated bodies from tsunami-hit beaches and islands, an owner said on Saturday.

About 24 elephants were expected to land on the devastated resort island of Phuket and the mainland beaches of Khao Lak where rotting corpses lay buried beneath rubble and tonne of sand and debris following the devastating tsunami on Sunday.

"Elephants are better than four-wheel-drive trucks, better than back hoes. Those can’t go far, but elephants can," Sompast Meephan said as he loaded elephants onto trucks for the 800-km (500-mile) ride from Ayutthaya, the former capital in central Thailand, to Phuket.