A worker elephant helped to retrieve a pickup truck stuck in a muddy off-road trail in Thailand.

Footage shows the jumbo pulling the dirty vehicle using a rope tied to its body in Trang province on October 21.

The elephant, who pulls felled trees at a local logging company, used its phenomenal strength to drag the truck from the ditch where the driver was stuck.

Onlooker Tom Sampan said: ‘Villagers helped, but the car was too heavy for them until they called the elephant. His caretaker guided the animal, and the driver was out of the mud in less than 15 minutes.'

Thailand has an estimated 2,000 Asian elephants living in the wild, where they wander freely among protected forests.

However, a similar number of elephants are kept in captivity, working in the tourist industry or getting hired out for religious festivals and weddings.

A small number still work in commercial logging, despite the practice being widely condemned by the developed world and animal rights groups.

A worker elephant helped to retrieve a pickup truck stuck in a muddy off-road trail in Thailand.

Footage shows the jumbo pulling the dirty vehicle using a rope tied to its body in Trang province on October 21.

The elephant, who pulls felled trees at a local logging company, used its phenomenal strength to drag the truck from the ditch where the driver was stuck.

Onlooker Tom Sampan said: ‘Villagers helped, but the car was too heavy for them until they called the elephant. His caretaker guided the animal, and the driver was out of the mud in less than 15 minutes.'

Thailand has an estimated 2,000 Asian elephants living in the wild, where they wander freely among protected forests.

However, a similar number of elephants are kept in captivity, working in the tourist industry or getting hired out for religious festivals and weddings.

A small number still work in commercial logging, despite the practice being widely condemned by the developed world and animal rights groups.