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A wild bull elephant killed a tourist in a Thai national park on Monday, the third human fatality caused by the same animal, staff said in a statement.
The 65-year-old Thai tourist from Lopburi province was trampled to death while exercising near his tent in a campground in Thailand’s Khao Yai National Park, chief Chaiya Huayhongthong told AFP.
Thai newspaper the Bangkok Post said the elephant, known locally as Oyewan, charged at the man and slammed him to the ground with its trunk before stomping on him.
A doctor and rescue workers said the man bled through his mouth and nose and suffered several broken limbs and other injuries.
The camper was identified as Jirathachai Jiraphatboonyathorn, the outlet said.
His wife, who was nearby when the early morning attack occurred, escaped after park rangers frightened the animal off, according to AFP.
“He was the third person killed by Oyewan,” Huayhongthong said, adding that the elephant could have been responsible for several more deaths that remain unsolved.
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In a statement on Facebook on Monday, the park acknowledged the death, saying, “Khao Yai National Park expresses its deepest condolences to the families of the deceased from the incident of wild elephants attacking tourists in Khao Yai National Park.”
Park authorities will meet on Friday to discuss what to do about the elephant, the chief said.
“We will probably decide to relocate him or change his behaviour,” Huayhongthong explained.
More than 220 people have been killed by wild elephants in Thailand since 2012, according to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
Wild elephant numbers have risen rapidly in Thailand — from 334 in 2015 to almost 800 last year — leading to the introduction of a contraceptive vaccine administered among female elephants in an attempt to curb birth rates, France 24 wrote.
Thousands more live in captivity, it added.
A rise in the population of elephants in Thailand increases the risk of conflict between elephants and humans, Sukhee Boonsang, a director of the Wildlife Conservation Office, told AFP last month.
Asian elephants, Thailand’s national animal, are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Last January, a 22-year-old tourist was killed by an elephant at a sanctuary in Thailand after the animal turned on her while she was giving it a bath.
Blanca Ojanguren García, from northwest Spain, was bathing an elephant alongside her boyfriend at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Centre when the elephant attacked her.
The sanctuary’s owner said the elephant struck the woman with its trunk. No one else was injured in the attack.
Experts told local media the elephant was likely stressed by the pressure of living and interacting with tourists.
Another tourist was killed by an elephant while walking on a nature trail in Loei’s Phu Kradueng National Park in northern Thailand in December 2024, CBS reported.
— With files from Global News staff
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