WATCH: Baby elephant rescues ‘drowning’ human best friend

Several employees from Thailand-based Save Elephant Foundation witnessed a tender moment of a young elephant rescuing her drowning human friend.

Kham Lha, the 5-year-old elephant, was seen rushing through tenacious river currents to save her Canadian trainer Darrick Thomson, 42, at the Elephant Nature Park in Mae Taeng, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Although Thomson was not in a near-death situation, Kham Lha splashed and reached out to her “human best friend” with her trunk. Then, she lifted him up before putting one of her legs around Thomson, who thanked her for her rapid rescue.

In an interview with The Sun, the Toronto-born staffer said that Kham Lha was nearly destined to be enslaved and tortured until the foundation saved her life last year. He said, “Kham Lha was in a really bad way when she came to us…We freed her and helped her to recover. She became really close to me and we formed a strong bond.”

“I went in the river to show just how remarkable the relationship with humans is. And that if you show warmth and kindness to them, they will treat you well, too,” he elucidated. Now, Kham La is a joyous and liberated elephant living with 14 other elephants at a protected jungle sanctuary.

BACKSTORY: WATCH: Elephant dozes like a baby after caretaker sings lullaby

Elephant News uploaded the clip on YouTube on Oct. 12 with the caption, “This video shows the bond between Darrick and elephant Kham Lha at Elephant Nature Park when she thinks Darrick in trouble, so she rushed to the river and try to save him. This is can show us that, when we treat animals with love, they always paid love back to us.”

The YouTube video has racked up 3.2 million views as of Tuesday.  Gianna Francesca Catolico