Sure, the most discussed case of animals dealing with people this year is the tragic story of Harambe the Gorilla, who was killed after a child fell into his cage in a zoo. But let’s not forget that sometimes animals can become our only saviors during a serious crisis. Let’s recall 20 awe-insipring stories of animals helping people.

 

20. Kham Lha the Swimming Elephant

Over the course of its work, Save Elephant Foundation in Chiang Mai, Thailand, has rescued over 70 elephants. One of them was little female elephant named Kham Lha, who became very attached to the Foundation’s co-founder Darrick Thomson. So when Thomson was recently swimming and called out Kham Lha’s name, the elephant stormed to the water to provide her body as a floating device. Turned out Thomson didn’t really need saving, but the episode is still too cute to handle.