Where's an ark when you need one? Animals trapped by Thai flood devastation try to flee the rising tide

By James White

Last updated at 11:52 PM on 2nd November 2011

Terrified and with nowhere to go but the small areas of dry land that remain, these are the animal victims of the flooding that has devastated Thailand.

In Ayutthaya, a distressed group of elephants is facing its second month cut off by the stagnant waters as they shelter on a concrete island at an animal sanctuary.

The group of 17 include seven animals aged under four years who were too small to flee when the rest of their herd were led to safety in the city north of Bangkok.

Water-logged: Zebras plough through the waters at Safari World in Minburi District, Bangkok, Thailand, which has been inundated by flooding

Gimme shelter: The zebras wander around Safari World where they were forced to flee even deeper water

No room on the boat: Elephants are stranded on the concrete island at the conservation park in Ayutthaya where they are facing a second month cut off

Sad sight: An elephant drinks floodwater at the deluged site north of Bangkok

Distressed: Deer stand in the floodwaters at the wildlife park Safari World in Bangkok after half of it was submerged last night

The adults among them - including two males and a pregnant female - can frolic in the water, stretch their limbs and cool down. But the little ones cannot because they would drown if they stepped into the 6-foot-deep water.

'Yes the elephants are upset. I'm upset too,' keeper Parinnam said. "We're the same, humans and elephants.'

Elsewhere, hundreds of animals living in Safari World, Bangkok, were rescued and moved to higher ground after their enclosures were flooded overnight. Zebras and deer were among the animals affected.

Saved: A leopard kitten is bottle fed in a wildlife rescue centre in Phnom Tamao zoo near Phnom Penh, Cambodia, after the region also suffered flooding. The tiny leopard was found with another by a fisherman near floodwaters

Elsewhere in Thailand, flooding at the Honda motor factory at Ayutthaya province has caused immense damage to the local industry.

But it has also led to a shortage of essential car parts to UK, U.S. and Canada Honda plants resulting in production being halved in those countries.

Workers at Honda's Swindon factory have been told work has been cancelled for tomorrow and Friday.