Chinese family had to be rescued by other ‘mahouts’ after animal suddenly turned on its new ‘mahout’ keeper

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Elephant gores man to death at Thai beachside restaurant Read more

An elephant in northern Thailand killed its handler before running off into the jungle with three terrified Chinese tourists still on its back, police said.



“The mahout who was killed was Karen and he was not familiar with the elephant. They [the tourists] are safe now,” said Colonel Thawatchai Thepboon, police commander of Mae Wang district in Chiang Mai province. The Karen are an ethnic minority people in northern Thailand.

Police said that on Wednesday morning a Chinese family of three – a father, mother and a young child – were taking a ride on the male elephant when it turned suddenly on its new keeper, goring him to death.

The elephant had not taken well to his new “mahout” – 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 own elephants.

Rides are a popular and lucrative tourist activity but many animal rights groups say it is cruel and stressful for the animals.



Thailand’s roughly 4,000 domesticated elephants outnumber an estimated 2,500 remaining in the wild.



Elephants are a national symbol and have been used en masse in the tourist trade since they found themselves unemployed in 1989 when logging was banned.

In June an elephant killed a Thai man and injured another as they were eating dinner at a beachside restaurant.

Rights groups have documented unscrupulous handlers using controversial techniques to crush the animal’s spirit or severely overworking them to make more money.

“Elephants work every day, of every month, basically 365 days per year,” said 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.”