Horrifying video has emerged of a Thai man being eaten alive by a bear at a Buddhist temple in Phetchabun Province in north-central Thailand.

According to local reports 36-year-old Naiphum Promratee and four friends decided to visit the local Buddhist temple and had been dangling food over the wall surrounding the bear’s enclosure.

The bear is then reported to have used its mouth to grab Mr Promratee before pulling him over the wall and into its pit.

In the video above Mr Promratee can be seen attempting to shield himself as the bear stands over him, literally eating him alive.

As his horrified friends on the other side of the wall desperately attempt to divert its attention with sticks and a steel pipe, the full-grown bear continues to feast away on the hapless Mr Promratee.

Perhaps annoyed by the desperate attempts of Mr Promratee’s friends, the bear then drags his limp and bloodied body away like a rag doll to its enclosure. Additional video shows the bear inside its enclosure continuing to eat the still alive Thai man.

As the bear continues to eat Mr Promratee in its enclosure a man in white shirt is seen furiously beating the animal with a piece of timber in an attempt to stop the relentless attack.

The video next shows the bloodied and limp body of Mr Promratee being dragged through the temple by two men followed by a monk, before he is placed in the back of a pickup truck and rushed away.

Before the truck departs a bloodied Mr Promratee can be seen lying in the bed of the vehicle in an almost foetal position, his clothes torn to shreds.

No additional information on Mr Promratee’s injuries or condition was available at the time of writing. This story will be updated as additional information becomes available.

Update: This story was last updated at 13:37 on July 22, 2017:

Local media have reported that the bear, named Kaew, involved in the attack has been removed from the Luang Pu Lamai Monastery to a government wildlife centre where she is reportedly showing sign of distress due to her confinement.

Reports said it required ten men to carry the anaesthetised Asian black bear. After a medical checkup she will be relocated to a more open and natural environment with the aim being to release her back into the wild if possible.

The bear was reportedly placed at the temple five years ago by Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNPWPC) after being seized as a one-year-old cub from an illegal owner.

As for Mr Promratee, eyewitnesses say he was teasing the bear prior to being pulled into the pit, while doctors are said to have used almost 1,000 sutures to sew him up.

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The photo caption in the original version of this story incorrectly identified Families through Surrogacy as having been Bangkok based. It is in fact registered in NSW, Australia. It is Ms Davis-Charles’ Fertility Solutions PGD which claims to be a Bangkok-based identity.