This is the heartwarming moment an exhausted wild elephant stuck in a muddy pond was rescued in Thailand.

The jumbo slipped down the steep sludgy banks while foraging through the trees of a rubber plantation in Buriram province on Monday morning January 23.

It struggled in the neck-deep water of the drainage pit for more than 12 hours before villagers found the weary creature and called for help.

As the animal was too heavy to be pulled out with a rope, the rescue team had to use an excavator to dig a path from the ditch to higher ground.

Footage shows the tired elephant wading across the thick mud, struggling to find a way out. Another clip showed it successfully walking out of the pond with the help of the digger.

Conservationist Bodin Chanthasrikham said: ‘The area was too muddy and the elephant was heavy so we had to make a sloped walkway for it to escape instead.

‘Villagers informed us that the elephant had been there since the day before the operation, but they couldn't find a way to help it.'

When the elephant was finally freed from the sludge, it ran back to the forest. Officers remained around the area bordering farms and a national park in case the frightened creature returned.

It is not believed to have suffered any lasting injuries.

Thailand has an estimated 2,000 Asian elephants living in the wild where they wander freely among protected forests. Male Asian elephants, unlike African elephants, roam alone once they are over 10 years old while females remain with the herd.

There is sometimes conflict when they come into contact with humans on roads and in villages so wildlife rangers are tasked with monitoring their movements.

A similar number of elephants in the country are also kept in captivity to work in the tourist industry or at religious festivals and weddings. A small number still work in commercial logging.