An elephant snapped its handler in half after he was forced to haul wood from a plantation during a heat wave in Thailand.
The male elephant, named Pom Pam, stabbed Supachai Wongfaed, 33, with his tusks multiple times and split his body in half after “going crazy” from the heat, police said.
The 20-year-old elephant had been hauling rubberwood from a plantation in hot weather, where temperatures reached 89 degrees Fahrenheit (31C), in the Phang Nga province of southern Thailand for four days when it turned on your trainer.
Police officers and rescuers were called to the scene on August 17 where they found Wongfaed’s body split in two in a pool of blood.
An elephant split its handler in half after he was forced to carry wood from a plantation during a heat wave in Thailand (file image)
Livestock officers and volunteers searched for the elephant and found it about 500 meters from Wongfaed’s body.
Pom Pam was then shot with a sedative dart from about 500 yards away so rescuers could retrieve the handler’s body.
The cattle tenders then transported the elephant to their facility for rehabilitation.
Asian elephants are sometimes used to carry logs and lumber in forested areas of Thailand, despite a 30-year-old law that bans the practice.
Takua Thung Police Lt. Col. Sorasak Chandee said: “We were called to the scene at a rubber plantation where we found the body of a mahout.”
‘The owner of the elephant was attacked and killed by his animal. The elephant was aggressive when we found it. We suspect that he was irritable and attacked his caregiver.
Wonfaed’s father was Thawon Wongfaed, a former mayor of the Khok Charoen sub-district in central Thailand. His body has been taken to relatives for his funeral.
“It’s another stark reminder that Asian elephants are and will remain wild animals that can attack and kill when abused or overstressed by humans,” Duncan McNair, chief executive of charity Save the Asian Elephants, told Newsweek.
“They suffer deeply, both psychologically and physically, when they are broken down and forced to do constant hard work in logging and related activities,” he added.
McNair said his charity believes at least 2,000 people have been killed or injured by captive elephants ‘brutalised in forced unnatural activities’.
Last month, another keeper was killed by his elephant at a rubber plantation in Chawang district, southern Thailand.
Chaichana Matchimwong was found dead by police with multiple injuries to his tusks after he caused the elephant to carry heavy logs along a road, the Bangkok Post reports.
Elephant Phlai Ekasit (pictured) killed his 54-year-old owner at a Thai zoo in 2017 by crushing him with his trunk.
In 2017, a famous Thai elephant that starred in movies and commercials crushed its keeper to death at a zoo in Thailand.
Somsak Riangngern, 54, was killed at the Chiang Mai Zoo by a 32-year-old male elephant named Phlai Ekasit.
Riangngern had fed Phlai and unchained him so he could bathe and drink when the attack occurred. As Riangngern backed away from the elephant, the animal lashed out at him with its trunk and tusks before grabbing him with its trunk.
Ekasit is well known in Thailand for having starred in five films, including the popular Ong Bak series starring martial arts expert Tony Jaa.
Ekasit had reportedly been performing in shows for tourists, though Wuthichai denied this, saying the zoo only allows tourists to feed the animals.
Thailand is known for an elephant tourism trade that sees the animals perform in circuses, go on rides, or rent them out for other forms of entertainment.
Animal rights group PETA said working elephants in captivity “have been uprooted from their jungle homes to be sold as equipment.” The group says they are “forced to transport illegal logs or entertain tourists.”
