Thai Elephant Keeper: Elephant Kills Keeper As Tourists Get Horror Ride On Animal’s Back

A Thai elephant keeper was killed when the animal he cared for turned on him without any apparent warning. The elephant had three tourists on his back at the time and went running off with them along for the harrowing ride.

The Mirror reports that the incident took place in the Chiang Mai jungle in northern Thailand. The Thai elephant keeper was the animal’s new caregiver, who was gored to death in front of the tourists. A Chinese family consisting of two parents and their young child were on the large animal’s back. They were rescued after other keepers came to them.

Police commander of Mae Wang district, Col. Thawatchai Thepboon said, “The mahout [elephant keeper] who was killed was not familiar with the elephant. They (the tourists) are safe now.”

The Thai elephant that killed his keeper was eventually calmed down by other mahouts and led him back with the tourists still aboard.

Yahoo! News reports that the male elephant hadn’t taken well to his new keeper. It’s unclear what circumstances led to the tragic outcome, but using elephants as tourist attractions has received widespread criticism from animal right groups. They feel that people riding them on heavy, iron-clad tack is cruel and stressful for them. A lot of controversial techniques are used to diminish the animal’s spirit and set unrealistic standards for them that often entail cruelty.

Ever since logging was banned in 1989, many found themselves out of work, so they saw elephants as an option to make money in the tourist trade.

Animal rights groups have documented the many instances of these majestic animals being overworked in order to make money off tourists, as Edwin Wiek, a campaigner from Wildlife Friends of Thailand, says.

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

“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.”

As Sportsgrid writes, another incident similar to this happened in June when an elephant standing next to its keeper went berserk out of the blue, killing one tourist and injuring another while they were eating dinner at an outdoor restaurant.

Fortunately in this latest attack, the animal didn’t harm the tourists on his back — or tried throwing them off. It was a traumatic experience for the tourists who undoubtedly feared for their lives.

Not much is known about the Thai elephant keeper who took over the animal’s well-being before he was killed.

[Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images]