A grandfather was horrifically trampled to death by a wild elephant that ventured into his garden in search of some food.
Noi Songkroh, 79, went on to check his vegetables when he noticed the enormous animal tucking into a banana plant he had growing in his garden in central Thailand.
The sun had set when Noi ventured into his garden, so he was using a flashlight to check his veg when he noticed the lost animal. Moving the beam of light upwards, the elephant quickly became startled and charged towards Noi, trampling him into the ground.
Neighbours in the Prachinburi province witnessed the horrifying attack on the night of September 25, soon calling wildlife officials to help deal with the aggressive animal.
At around 1am, authorities managed to arrive at the scene, where they found Noi’s body that had been pushed down into the mud. The elephant tracks showed that the animal had wandered past a whole set of homes shortly before the attack, with only the bananas attracting it to Noi’s garden.
He added: “I heard dogs barking, so I went to check and saw Noi standing in front of the house. Suddenly, a wild elephant charged at him, killing him on the spot. I called the neighbours and informed the village headman, and they tried to drive the elephant back toward Thap Lan National Park.”
The family and his son, Pichet Songkroh, 53, have been given his body and are preparing a funeral in the coming days. In the aftermath of the attack, they have urged authorities to address the problem of elephants entering their village and are calling for actions so this doesn’t happen again.
Pichet said: “I want the relevant officials to take action and find ways to solve the elephant problem and ensure the safety of our villagers. They shouldn't wait for another person to die before acting.”
This is not the first time a wild elephant has been involved in a death in Thailand. Only last month, a 66-year-old farmer, Abdullah Kareeya, was trampled to death while he was working tapping rubber trees.
With an estimated 4,000 to 4,400 wild elephants in Thailand, incidents involving elephant attacks are not uncommon. Although it should be noted that their endangered status has led to a drastic fall in the number of incidents.
In the early 20th century, the Thai elephant population was thought to be much higher at 300,000, but after habitat loss, poaching and conflict with humans, it has drastically reduced.
According to Human Elephant Voices, most cases of incidents or human-elephant contact (HEC). They added: “Root causes of HEC are from loss of wild elephants’ suitable habitats, agricultural encroachment and thus elephant behaviour change.
“These lead to the conflict between two species, which results in casualties and property damages, especially the cash crops of farmers.”
During 2012-2018, there were 107 incidents of human-elephant conflict in Thailand; in these incidents, 45 people died and 30 were injured.
