A Spanish visitor was fatally shot by an elephant in his attention last week, and Thai authorities have charged a mahout.
Theerayut Inthaphudkij, 38, was charged with neglect causing death, regional authorities said Monday.
The tourist – 22-year-old Blanca Ojanguren García – was bathing the elephant at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Centre in southern Thailand when she was attacked by the animal.
This raises new questions about Thailand’s expanding elephant tourism sector, which animal rights organizations have long criticized as irresponsible and dangerous.
According to activists, elephant bathing impairs the ability to engage in normal grooming and may injure the animals, putting them under unnecessary stress.
Authorities speculated after the attack that the rhinoceros might have been stressed out from the visitors ‘ interactions.
García sustained a mind injury- and afterward died in the clinic- after the rhinoceros, 45-year-old female Phang Somboon, pushed her with its tusk. Her partner, who was travelling with her, witnessed the assault.
According to estimates from the international organization World Animal Protection, there are virtually 3, 000 elephants in Thailand’s tourist attractions.
According to a statement from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ( Peta ),” these incidents highlight the dangers to both humans and animals alike.”
Any” sanctuary” that allows people to touch, feed, bathe, or otherwise interact directly with animals is not a place of refuge for animals, according to Peta senior vice president Jason Baker.” Any sanctuary” that allows people to contact, feed, feed, or interact with animals in any way puts the existence of visitors and animals in grave danger.
Animals whose elephants killed tourists have previously been accused of neglect.
After an elephant killed a Taiwanese tour guide and wounded two travellers in the Thai beach town of Pattaya in 2017, an elephant station operator and a parser were charged with carelessness and death. In 2013, a 27-year-old rhinoceros had its claws cut after it attacked and killed a person.
García, a laws and foreign ties scholar at Spain’s University of Navarra, was living in Taiwan as part of a student exchange program. She and her partner made contact with Thailand on December 26, 2024.
Spain’s foreign secretary, Jose Manuel Albares, said the Colonial embassy in Bangkok was assisting García’s home.
Kelly Ng provided extra monitoring.