A Spanish tourist dies after being attacked while giving an elephant a bath in Thailand

A Spanish tourist has died after his death attacked by an elephant while giving him a bath at a pachyderm center on Yao Yai Island, southwestern Thailand, police and center sources indicated.

Police officer Charan Bangprasert, from Yao Yai Police Station, said a person of Spanish nationality was killed after an incident involving an elephant, without specifying the woman’s age.

The information was confirmed by an employee of the Koh Yao Elephant Care center, who explained that the tourist was washing the elephant as she passed in front of the animal and it stuck a tusk into her, causing injuries that she suffered. later died. .

Washing or bathing elephants are popular activities in some recreational centers in Thailand, where the pachyderms also participate in shows for tourists.

Most incidents involving elephants tend to occur among wild specimens, which sometimes invade human-inhabited areas due to loss of natural habitat.

In the past 12 years There have been 240 deaths due to attacks by wild elephants, including 39 fatalities by 2024, according to data from the Department of National Parks cited by The Nation newspaper.

Thailand’s Ministry of National Parks estimates that more than 4,000 wild elephants live in Thailand’s reserves, national parks and nature reserves, a growing population although still far below the 300,000 pachyderms that populated the country more than a century ago.

It is also estimated that a similar population of domestic elephants exists in the country. most were used in shows intended for tourists.

In the past, thousands of elephants were used in the logging industry, but when logging was banned in 1989, the pachyderms were displayed on the streets to beg for alms – something no longer seen in the country – and in entertainment centers. .