Kindhearted rescuers have brought “Chao Boonrod,” the resilient pig saved from the Hat Yai floods, riding in the back of a pickup truck to Udon Thani, preparing to find a place to care for him.
At 14:30 on 1 Dec 2025, Mr. Chaisit Lengthaisongyod, 44, a volunteer from the Udon Sawang Methatham Rescue Foundation in Udon Thani, led the rescue team returning from flood relief efforts in Hat Yai, Songkhla Province. They stopped at the PTT gas station in Ban Dongkeng, Village No. 4, Ban Chan Subdistrict, on the Mittraphap Road (Udon Thani–Khon Kaen) heading into Udon Thani city. In the back of the rescue pickup was a male pig weighing about 60 kilograms.
The pig had been rescued from the Hat Yai floodwaters. After the water receded, Chao Boonrod was found inside a cage near a school with no one to care for him. He had wounds on his body and legs, likely from cuts by sharp metal such as corrugated iron while swimming to survive. Feeling compassion, the team brought him back to be cared for in Udon Thani, traveling 1,600 kilometers. They named him “Chao Boonrod.” He was tied with a rope to the pickup truck and comfortably ate vegetables and bananas.
Mr. Saichon Kumsap, 51, a volunteer from Udon Sawang Methatham Rescue Foundation, said he works as a funeral assistant at Wat Pa Non Thong in Chiang Pheng Subdistrict, Kut Chap District, Udon Thani. He saw the flood news from Hat Yai on TV and felt heartbroken, wanting to help. When Mr. Yod invited him, he went immediately. They traveled two nights and one day, arriving at 3 a.m., and launched a long-tail boat right away. Their first mission was to rescue people trapped in the flood with water about 2 meters high and injured by broken glass. They helped many people, but faced problems with large floating debris like wood and mattresses tangled in the boat’s propeller, as well as boxes and metal hitting the boat.
“When we first came to help, we thought the pig had an owner. People asked us to rescue a pig stuck on a wire cage that hadn’t eaten for 4–5 days. After we got the pig down, they told us to take it because there was nowhere to keep it there. They didn’t know where the pig had come from.”
Mr. Chaisit Lengthaisongyod, or Yod, 44, a volunteer from Udon Sawang Methatham Rescue Foundation, said the team named the pig “Chao Boonrod.” That day, the team was rescuing villagers, prioritizing evacuating people first. But villagers stranded on a rooftop told them to also rescue the pig they had been watching over for five days since it had floated in. The pig was on the roof waiting for help. After evacuating the villagers, they returned to help the pig. He recalled that on 26 Nov 2025, they hadn’t planned to bring the pig back because the area where it was found was a school, which normally wouldn’t be suitable for raising a pig.
“We plan to find a safe place to keep the pig and will not harm it. We will bring Chao Boonrod to see the abbot at a temple first. If the abbot cannot keep the pig because it might disturb the monks, we will raise it at my home garden. Along the way back, many locals showed sympathy by giving Chao Boonrod vegetables, bananas, and water to eat.”
