Nereus wrote: ↑Mon Jan 08, 2018 10:08 am
404cameljockey wrote:Actually I think maybe more people are killed by elephants each year than snakes?
Really – How Many Deaths in Thailand Due to Venomous Snakebite?
https://www.thailandsnakes.com/how-many ... snakebite/
One source, Suchai Suteparuk, M.D., Division of Toxicology, at Thailand’s most prestigious school Chulalongkorn University, cites in his paper “Bites & Stings in Thailand” there are about 7,000 bites by snakes in Thailand and about 30 deaths per year due to venomous snakebite (
http://www.tm.mahidol.ac.th/jitmm2008/d ... -bites.pdf). (old stats)
I was only being half serious, and in return you only looked at half of the story!
Indeed it seems hard to get data on killer elephants. I can imagine that death by elephant could be under reported due to (1) its importance in the tourist trade, it's a national symbol, (2) government unwillingness to highlight fraught human/elephant encounters due to loss of habitat and elephants foraging in villages for food, and (3) also unwillingness to expose harsh treatment of working elephants. Just a theory, but elephants in musth can be very dangerous, and the cruel mistreatment they often suffer here can make them even crazier.
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"Mahout deaths are common in Southeast Asia.
In March alone, elephants killed at least four mahouts in Thailand. It is tough to say how many deaths occur each year, since many don’t get reported at all"
https://www.google.co.th/search?q=kille ... 64&bih=915
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"“People keep on dying. And it often doesn’t make much news when they’re locals,” says Wiek, a Thai-speaking, Dutch former special forces soldier who investigates animal abuse in Southeast Asia."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/wor ... /80283654/
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"Laundering killer elephants’ identities is abetted by poor regulation."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/wor ... /80283654/
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