{"id":67821,"date":"2017-07-14T15:47:25","date_gmt":"2017-07-14T22:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=67821"},"modified":"2017-07-14T16:07:06","modified_gmt":"2017-07-14T23:07:06","slug":"sri-lanka-navy-saves-an-elephant-that-was-swept-into-the-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/07\/14\/sri-lanka-navy-saves-an-elephant-that-was-swept-into-the-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Stranded elephant saved in dramatic sea rescue 8 miles from shore"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taylor Rogers<\/a>\u00a0Yahoo News<\/a><\/span>
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For members of the Sri Lankan navy, a routine morning patrol took an unexpected turn on Tuesday when an elephant was spotted struggling to stay afloat after having been pulled miles off the coast by currents.<\/p>\n

When naval personnel said it spotted the elephant eight miles from the shore, the animal was struggling to keep just its trunk above the waves\u00a0while the rest of its body was underwater. Navy divers then tied ropes to the elephant and called for two additional boats to help gently pull it back to shore in what became a 12-hour rescue mission.Sri Lankan navy divers try to tie a rope around an elephant that had strayed into the open sea and was struggling to stay afloat. (Photo by Sri Lanka Navy Media Unit HA\/REX\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

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t is not unusual for elephants to swim long distances, Avinash Krishnan, a researcher for the \u00a0Indian animal conservation group A Rocha,\u00a0told the Guardian<\/a>, but they tire quickly.<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

And the saltwater isn\u2019t good for their skin, so in this case, the situation probably warranted human intervention,\u201d Krishnan said.<\/p>\n

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Sri Lankan navy divers tie a rope around an elephant that had strayed away into the open sea. (Photo by Sri Lanka Navy Media Unit HA\/REX\/Shutterstock)<\/div>\n<\/figcaption>