Yesterday, an angry elephant who escaped from Khao Yai National Park smashed a pickup truck’s windscreen with its tusks in northeast Thailand.
Fearing for the safety of tourists, a brave national park official parked his pickup in front of the elephant to stop him from going any further.
The Khao Yai National Park chief, Chaiya Huayhongthong, reported at 9am today that a well-known, badly behaved, male elephant repeatedly rammed its tusks into the pickup’s windscreen until it smashed yesterday afternoon.
Chief Chaiya said that the elephant – known as plai dur (“Naughty Boy”) – had been tied up since he killed a tourist at the national park three years ago.
Yesterday, Naughty Boy broke out of his collar and escaped from the national park. He walked down the road heading towards Haew Su Wat Waterfall in Pak Chong district of Nakhon Ratchasima province.
The Head of the Wild Elephant Care and Safety Team, Suttiphon Sinkha, followed the elephant down the road. He rang Chief Chaiya to tell him that the elephant was displaying “irritable behaviour” and had a wound on his lower left hind leg.
Fearing that the angry elephant would attack tourists, brave Suttiphon parked his pickup truck to block Naughty Boy’s path, hoping he would turn around and head back into the forest.
Suttiphon narrowly escaped the truck in time before distressed Naughty Boy smashed the windscreen with his two-foot-long tusks.
Veterinarians administered anti-inflammatory drugs and painkillers to the injured elephant’s leg to help heal his wound and alleviate his symptoms.
The national park advises tourists to keep a distance of at least 50 metres from a wild elephant if they come across one.
In July, an elephant stabbed its owner (mahout) to death with its tusks in Nakhon Si Thammarat province in southern Thailand.
In August, an elephant ripped its mahout’s body in half with its tusks in southern Thailand’s Phang Nga province. Police suspect the elephant was annoyed because its owner made it carry rubberwood in the hot sun.