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AN ELEPHANT IN northern Thailand went berserk Wednesday, killing his “mahout” keeper before running off into the jungle with three terrified Chinese tourists still on his back, police said.
“The mahout who was killed was Karen and he was not familiar with the elephant. They (the tourists) are safe now,” Colonel Thawatchai Thepboon, police commander of Mae Wang district in Chiang Mai province, told AFP.
The Karen are an ethnic minority community in northern Thailand.
Police said the incident took place at 9.30am (02.30 Irish time) as a Chinese family of three — a father, mother and a young child — took a ride on the back of a male elephant.
Rides are a popular and lucrative tourist activity but many animal rights groups say it is cruel and stressful for the pachyderms.
The elephant had not taken easily to his new keeper and turned on him suddenly, goring him to death, Channel 3 reported.
The channel broadcast footage of the three frightened tourists being led back to camp still on the elephant’s back once it had been calmed down by other mahouts and their rides.
Thailand’s roughly 4,000 domesticated elephants outnumber an estimated 2,500 remaining in the wild.
Domestic elephants in Thailand – where the pachyderm is a national symbol — have been used en masse in the tourist trade since they found themselves unemployed in 1989 when logging was banned.
Accidents are not unheard of. In June an elephant killed a Thai man and injured another as they were eating dinner at a beachside restaurant. The pair had been talking to the animal’s mahout when it suddenly became angered.
Rights groups have documented the more unscrupulous mahouts using controversial techniques to crush the animal’s spirit or severely overworking their rides to make more money.
“Elephants work every day, of every month, basically 365 days per year,” Edwin Wiek, a campaigner from Wildlife Friends of Thailand told AFP.
“If you had to do the same, you would get stressed. It is the same for elephants. At some point they become crazy and we can’t control them.”
Seen the torture first hand in Thailand. They use a stick with a spike and hook on it to constantly poke that elephant. Poke is the softest word my thesaurus could find.
There are some good places that have higher standards of animal welfare. A quick bit of research on the internet will let you find them.
Afraid not.. All elephants who carry tourists have been abused to make them docile and controllable. http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/think-elephant-rides-are-cute-heres-why-you-should-reconsider/
True, but there are places one can go to see elephant that are cared for in Thailand. It’s not all about the elephant rides.
Yes, sanctuaries and rescue centres that care for elephants who have been saved from the tourist industry are good places to visit if you want to see elephants. They need our support
Agreed, anyone involved in this kind of torture to such a beautiful free animal is skum,including the tourists. Turns my stomach
Hi Ross, whilst this has proven to be the case for many if not most, during extensive research, (first hand and by physically being there in person), there are a very small minority of places, (not necessarily ‘tourist’ places though) where an elephant has been ‘trained’ to carry 1 person bareback, but have been trained through humane methods (purely for the sake of argument putting whether carrying a person is humane or not aside for the moment if I may) and not by abuse, even when babies. To say all elephants have been abused if they have been trained in any form is not strictly true (albeit likely to be true in the vast majority of cases), it could be said that to state that it is true in 100% of cases potentially weakens an argument that is actually otherwise very valid. Just a thought. These such places do tend to be genuine, fairly remote hill tribes on the whole,(again, not necessarily though!), where they have lived alongside the elephants in the forest, really more as ‘family’ and not a part of the tourism industry for centuries. However, that said, it is probably a safer bet for tourists to find any such elephant encounters that do not offer rides, as it has proved to seem surprisingly difficult for tourists to really know the full picture in order to make an informed decision as to if somewhere is ethical or not. The are beautiful, gentle creatures, but should be respected as essentially wild animals after all. I think that more and more tourists are realising and will reach the conclusion that elephants are best seen/encountered in natural habitats and without rides! I don’t disagree with your comments, just wanted to tweak them a tiny bit! :D
Thanks for the info Inspirited. I am no fan of making an intelligent animal like an elephant carry around people for entertainment, or paint pictures etc, even if the elephant may have been trained humanely. I would think that such places are so few, that active discouragement of any elephant rides or performances should be the approach. Willfull ignorance is rife and even when faced with the choice, many tourists will opt for the lazy reasoning “well maybe this elephant was trained humanely”, when in fact the probability is, it wasn’t.
In my opinion, any sanctuary worth its salt will not offer rides or shows and encourage respectful interaction and observance of elephants in a natural environment. Those sanctuaries you speak of are actually enabling those that force their elephants through abuse – it should be treated like the ivory trade; abolition not managed.
I hugely respect that you have decided to research this and I hope that your reseach proves valuable in helping these creatures. Best of luck to you
Push an animal hard enough and they’ll snap. Poor elephant :-(
He must have been abused or tortured or taken from his family as they say a elephant has a good memory and never forgets .
hw: I read somewhere that the majority of elephants who attack keepers were taken from their mothers as babies or juveniles, so you’re probably correct.
No sympathy here. Next
I love the caption on the photo that it’s not the actual elephant involved. Good thing they told us, just in case some vigilantes went to exact revenge and got the wrong elephant.
Now that’s what you call a Chinese takeaway
Som Ting Wong and Ho Lee Fuk were said to be terrified and shaken after the ordeal
Obviously you’ve never been to Thailand, Al, or you’d know that those names are Chinese, not Thai.
Obviously you never read the story or you would have known that the three tourists on the elephant were Chinese
Excellent
You’re right, Al. My apologies.
Need some cream for that burn smiley? =)
Cheers, Lou. She’ll be right.
Got a laugh outa that!
that’s awful, poor elephant, no sympathy for guy, if that makes me heartless I don’t care! animals in tourist industry are treated like crap in these places, its disgraceful!
no sympathy. well done elephant!!
Will big animals,who are meant to be living with their families in the wild, ever be left alone by humans.
Tragic for the poor man killed.
But let me be honest here.
The mental image of an elephant running through the jungle with three Japanese tourists on board is cracking me up.
Will the elephant be ok or will they kill it?
Call the dentist.
ALL elephants used in the tourist industry are abused in order to make them docile enough for work. No exceptions. This involved crushing, caging and being chained up for years. The mahouts control them by hooking a metal spike behind the ear where there is sensitive skin. Any tourist who rides an elephant is supporting the abuse of elephants.
Ross, I have never, and would never, mounted a captive elephant for those precise reasons. I know people will say, if the elephants can’t work for people they will “become extinct” (I.e. be killed because they no longer provide profit). I fully accept that and realise how appallingly sad that would be. However, I would rather see them dead than living the life of torment that they are given. No-one seems to posit the third way – i.e. preserve some of their habitat and leave them the f*ck alone. They are no longer required for forestry or agriculture (like our heavy horses), machines having taken over, why not just let them live?
Andrew I saw it too. To get the elephant to turn in the direction the keepers want it to go, they stick a nail in it. We bought the elephants bananas and that were gone in a second. They seemed so hungry and we could see him looking at a river of water in the distance like he was so thirsty. It’s a memory I’ve never forgotten. It was beyond awful :(
Good, stop torturing these animals.
Whos gona play in goal now?
I am so sorry for this elephant – who will probably have to be killed – for PR.. An intelligent and social creature, they are brought to the will of man only by incredible cruelty and starvation. Perhaps tourists might consider this before they mount the back of an elephant on their holiday of a lifetime. The only comparable regimes of cruelty I can think of are to bears and marine mammals. We, as a s;pecies, would do well to cop on and realise that our fellow creatures are not toys for our amusement.
I’m sure the Keeper’s not at fault here. As it say he was only new.
Nellie the elephant packed her things and said goodbye to the circus. Tum tum tum. Well done Nellie.
Freeeeedom.
I guess she packed her trunk and said goodbye .
I wish ppl could just leave animals be and stop trying to involve them in stupid acts and giving humans a ride around for what??? Stupid ppl. Good elephant
Idiots here saying it’s great the animal killed the guide and escaped. Escaped where exactly? Anyone who knows anything about elephants in Thailand would know they are hunted for ivory and that these government regulated elephant sanctuaries put on shows and rides in order to fund their work. Typical journal morons who think they know it all.
As opposed to you thinking you know it all. Anywhere that offers elephant rides and shows, even gov run sanctuaries, are built on a system of abuse – fact! Elephants must be subdued and controlled with bullhooks to perform for people or be ridden by people. Only sanctuaries that do not exploit elephants should be supported. Educate yourself..
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/secrets-of-thailands-elephant-tourism-industry-video/
Sorry this is so long but I feel very strongly about this ! This is why it’s so important to really do your research before choosing a ‘tour’ or an elephant encounter. Firstly, if you don’t think riding is kind, choose to see elephants where there are no rides. Don’t go to an elephant camp where they are not in their natural environment (forest), make sure they are not chained or tethered, that the mahouts don’t use bull hooks, spikes or sticks and that the elephants can freely eat and drink water (an elephant needs around 200l water and 200kg food every day.). Make sure the mahouts are not adolescents, but well trained adults. Make sure they do not use seats to ride (an elephants back is not as strong as you’d think for its size), they can only comfortably cope with max 150kg, seats alone weigh around 100kg and they dig into the skin (even with blankets under them). Choose somewhere that does care for their elephants and really do love them. Although less in number they do exist. Choose one that only does 1 ride a day no more, if you feel that this is ok, or better still, no rides. Find out how they manage an elephant in musk (this one appears to maybe have been in musk reading all the worldwide reports? and therefore would have been an obvious danger to others. A male in musk must be led to a safe and open place in the forest, with other female elephants who are ready to breed and not pregnant, or you should not be surprised if they are rampant. An elephant does have a long memory, esp if it has suffered cruelty, (other reports suggest this was the case, you decide), they will bide their time and then it could be payback for the aggressor, this may have been what happened in this case with this elephants mahout, new or not. Elephants are caring, intelligent, beautiful creatures and should be treated with respect and affection. The Asian elephant is on the verge of becoming an endangered species in their natural homeland in Thailand, (according to official stats and sources), they will not necessarily survive in the wild anymore so it is imperative that they be looked after and treated properly if living amongst humans in the wild forest areas. I could write an awful lot more as I am currently working in Thailand , researching just this very plight of the elephants! Many elephants need your support, but choose VERY carefully. There are some (but very very few) places that are genuinely good but the elephants actual long term as well as short term survival depends on them. They do not at any time in the elephants life use cruelty and can indeed be ‘trained’ in the same way a dog or a horse or a rabbit etc etc can be, using reward methods that are kind and not punishments or chastisement. There is one such place in the centre of Thailand, another nature park right up in the far north and one approx 1 hr outside of Chiangmai called Discover Real Thailand. I am not an advocate for riding elephants, but I also think it is important to know that there are some places that never separate the babies from their mother or use cruel training methods, albeit they are in the minority at this current time.
Omg not even one elephant joke. @jackfrost you even missed your chance to say “packed her trunk and left” here goes …why do elephants drink so much ?? To try and forget!! BOOM!!!
Iniana Jones rode on an Aphelant.
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