A “panic-stricken” elephant killed a Hispanic girl while she was bathing the dog at an elephant center in Thailand, nearby authorities said.
When the animal gored Blanca Ojanguren Garca, 22, to dying next Friday while she was sweeping the elephant at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Centre.
The elephant might have been stressed by having to interact with visitors outside of its natural habitat, according to experts who spoke to Claren in Spanish.
García, who was a law and international relations scholar at Spain’s University of Navarra, was living in Taiwan as part of a pupil change programme.
She was visiting Thailand with her sweetheart, who witnessed the assault.
Spain’s foreign secretary, Jose Manuel Albares, said the Colonial embassy in Bangkok was assisting García’s home.
The rhinoceros care center has been contacted by BBC News for comment.
Thailand, which has more than 4, 000 exotic wildlife and a comparable number kept in captivity, is a popular tourist destination, according to the Department of National Parks.
The Koh Yao Center offers “elephant care” packages that allow visitors wash and move with the creatures as well as prepare food for and feed them. These packages cost between 1, 900 baht ($ 55, £44 ) and 2, 900 baht.
Rhino bathing activities have recently been criticized by animal activists because they interfere with natural grooming patterns and subject the animals to unnecessary stress and potential harm.
World Animal Protection, an international generosity, has for centuries urged states including Thailand to prevent breeding animals in prison.
More than six in 10 elephant used for commerce in Asia are living in” greatly insufficient” conditions, the donation said.
” These intelligent and socially complex animals, with a capacity for complicated thoughts and emotions, experience tremendous suffering in captivity, as their normal social structures may be replicated artificially”, the charity said.