'Stressed' elephant gores Spanish student to death while she was bathing the tusker in Thailand
A Spanish student tragically died after being attacked by an elephant during a bathing session at a Thai elephant tourism centre.
A tragic incident at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Centre in Thailand resulted in the death of Blanca Ojanguren García, a 22-year-old Spanish woman, after she was attacked by an elephant during a bathing session. Local authorities described the elephant as "panic-stricken" at the time of the attack, which occurred last Friday, reported the BBC.
García, a law and international relations student at Spain's University of Navarra, had been living in Taiwan as part of a student exchange program. She was visiting Thailand with her boyfriend, who witnessed the incident. According to experts consulted by Spanish newspaper Clarín, the elephant might have been under significant stress due to interactions with tourists, which can be unnatural and unsettling for the animals.
Tourist packages turn tragic
The Koh Yao centre offers tourist packages that involve activities such as feeding, showering, and walking with elephants. These packages are priced between 1,900 and 2,900 baht ($55 to $85). Elephant bathing is a popular attraction for tourists visiting Thailand, a country home to over 4,000 wild elephants and a similar number held in captivity, as reported by the Department of National Parks.
According to the BBC, animal welfare advocates have long raised concerns over such tourist activities. Critics argue that bathing and other interactions with elephants can disrupt their natural behaviours, potentially causing stress or harm to the animals. World Animal Protection, an international charity, has repeatedly called for an end to breeding elephants for tourism purposes in countries like Thailand. The charity highlights that over 60% of elephants used in tourism across Asia are kept in "severely inadequate" living conditions.
According to World Animal Protection, these conditions often prevent elephants from forming their natural social structures, leading to significant suffering. “These intelligent and socially intricate animals, with a capacity for complex thoughts and emotions, endure profound suffering in captivity as their natural social structures cannot be replicated artificially,” the charity emphasised.
Many users flocked to the comments section of the video to demand action, but others expressed scepticism, suggesting the woman may have provoked the incident in some way.
