Thailand
has an estimated 4,000 domesticated elephants, many working in the tourism
trade, alongside some 2,500 wild elephants (AFP Photo/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)
|
Bangkok
(AFP) - A British tourist has been trampled to death by an elephant on the Thai
tourist island of Koh Samui, police said Tuesday, the latest deadly attack by
animals used to entertain holidaymakers.
The man,
identified by police as Gareth Crowe, 36, was riding on the animal's back with
his daughter on Monday afternoon when it suddenly threw them off, police said.
"We
suspect that the hot weather made the elephant angry and that he was not
accustomed to his mahout," Paiboon Omark, Samui district chief, told AFP.
A mahout is
the person who trains, controls and rides an elephant, usually after years of
building up a close bond with the animal.
Paiboon
said Crowe had a prosthetic leg and was unable to run away from the marauding
pachyderm.
His
daughter and the mahout, a Myanmar national, were both injured but escaped and
were out of danger, he added.
The
elephant, named "Golf", was tranquillised and brought under control,
he said.
A spokesman
at the British embassy said they were aware of the incident and were providing
assistance to the victim's family.
Thailand's
use of elephants for tourism is under increased scrutiny following a string
of
scandals and investigations by rights groups (AFP Photo/Pornchai
Kittiwongsakul)
|
Thailand
has an estimated 4,000 domesticated elephants, many working in the tourism
trade, alongside some 2,500 wild elephants.
In August,
an elephant killed his mahout with three terrified Chinese tourists still on
his back. The tourists survived.
Thailand's
use of animals for tourism is under increased scrutiny following a string of
scandals and investigations by rights groups.
The
government is currently locked in a battle with a controversial "Tiger
Temple" that refuses to hand over hundreds of big cats despite holding
them illegally.
In 2013,
the pop star Rihanna inadvertently highlighted another thriving illegal trade
when she posted a selfie with a slow loris.
The
endangered primates are a protected species yet are often found with illegal
handlers in tourist regions who charge holidaymakers for pictures.
Conservationists
are meeting with Thai government officials on Wednesday to lobby for better
animal welfare standards across the tourism trade.
"In my
view, male elephants should not be in the tourism industry, they're simply too
unpredictable," Edwin Wiek, from Wildlife Friends of Thailand, one of the
groups attending the meeting, told AFP.
He added
that almost all the killings of mahouts and tourists during rides in recent
years had involved male elephants, sometimes when they are in must, a state
associated with the rutting season when males display aggressive behaviour
fuelled by a surge of testosterone.
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