5 JANUARY: CHONBURI PROVINCE, THAILAND – This story behind this picture has a sad beginning, but a happy ending. Here, six month-old baby elephant Clear Sky reaches out with her trunk to the hand of one of her handlers at the Nong Nooch Tropical Garden tourist park in Chonburi Province. After losing part of her left foot in a snare in Thailand, Clear Sky is now learning to walk again – in water. The six-month-old is the first elephant to receive hydrotherapy at an animal hospital in Chonburi Province, a few hours from Bangkok. The goal is to strengthen the withered muscles in her front leg, which was wounded three months ago in an animal trap laid by villagers to protect their crops. Now, she’s learning to walk again nicely and bonding with her lovely handlers 🙂

(Photo credit: ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images)