This is the heartwarming moment a stolen elephant and his caretaker were reunited after 18 years of being separated.

The 72-year-old male jumbo named Pang Yo was first reported stolen from Chob Rieng Ngoen, 65, by poachers in Surin province, Thailand in 2003.

Chob searched for the animal at the expense of leaving his work and found Pang Yo at an elephant camp in Phuket province where he was sold by the thieves for 1.4 million baht ( a little more than 30,000 GBP).

As the elephant was already paid for, the camp refused to return him to the man and so began a legal battle which only ended this month – after 18 years – when Pang Yo was finally returned to his original owner.

Delighter Chob said: ‘With the help of a lawyer I was able to obtain a certificate from the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office to bring Pang Yo home.

‘I am happy and relieved. I am at peace now that Pang Yo is back home. I knew him for almost all his life. He is with his family again and he is safe.’

Footage shows Chob and his jumbo Pang Yo greeting each another as they see each other for the first time after almost two decades on September 23.

Chob won the legal case but the elephant will now temporarily stay at the Rajamangala University of Technology with a mahout so the elderly elephant can adjust before being taken home.

Elephants are the national animal of Thailand. An estimated 2,000 elephants are living in the wild and a similar number in captivity, where they are kept as pets or work in tourism or hired out for religious festivals.

In the wild, they roam through the deep jungle and in the country’s protected national parks but often encounter humans on roads and in villages. However, they are protected by laws and killing them carries a maximum prison term of up to three years and a fine of 1,000 baht (25GBP).