Tourist killed by elephant in Kaeng Krachan

[Roel]

Just saw this on Phuket Wan. Thought it would be mentioned on HHForum or did I miss a thread in which case I apologize.

A young American tourist is reported to have been trampled to death by elephants in a national park near Bangkok. Rangers are said to have discovered the woman's crushed body at the Kaeng Krachan National Park.
The American, whose name has yet to be disclosed, went missing on January 13 and had been the subject of a search by as many as 70 people.

American Embassy officials declined to reveal details but police said the woman may have been trying to photograph the creatures before she was killed. The woman was in her 20s.

Colonel Woradet Suanklaai told reporters: ''Her arms, her wrists and other parts of the body were broken, so we assumed she was trampled by elephants because no humans could have caused such damage to the body.''

The woman was travelling alone after she left a camping ground in the park, the largest in the country.

Deaths from elephants are rare in Thailand, especially if the cause is wild elephants. One death has been recorded in recent years in Phang Nga, north of Phuket, when a male trekking elephant went on a rampage.

Male elephants go into ''musth'' each month and can be dangerous, which is why the vast majority of trekking elephants on Phuket are female.

Source: Phuket Wan

[buksida]

'Elephant attack' victim was US woman
US authorities have identified a tourist apparently trampled to death by elephants in Thailand as a woman from New York.

The Department of State said Friday she was 24-year-old Lily Glidden, who was from a small village named Freeville.

Park rangers in Thailand found Glidden's body on Jan 18, five days after she'd left alone from a campground in Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi province.

Glidden graduated from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts in 2012 with a biology degree and was interested in animals and the outdoors. Tufts says it's saddened by news of her death.

Authorities in Thailand say her severe injuries led them to believe she was attacked by elephants. They say there were numerous pictures of animals on her camera.

Source: Bangkok Post

[clinton114]

They're serious when they say "Beware Wild Elephants"

[PeteC]

This is an example of where The Animal Channel and other nature shows get it very wrong. They parade around with and close to dangerous animals and I would think young, inexperienced viewers get a wrong impression of the dangers. Years of watching things like that she probably just waltzed right up to them thinking she could do it safely. Big mistake.


EDIT. In addition, "elephants never forget" is basically true. Kaeng Krachan has been a poaching hotbed for years. They may have had one of their 'family' killed by a human and they have developed no tolerance for people being close to them.

[Ginjaninja]

Returning from a bike trip to Pa La U waterfall with the missus.
Stick it on mute before you play
GN.

[bsdk1960]

Returning from a bike trip to Pa La U waterfall with the missus.
Stick it on mute before you play
GN.

[buksida]

Woman killed by elephant in Kaeng Krachan
A wild elephant killed an elderly woman in the Kaeng Krachan National Park area in Hua Hin district Tuesday evening.

Poonsub Noknuam, 65, was trampled in the accident on Nong Plub-Pa La-u Road between the Hoob Tao forest protection unit and Kaeng Krachan national park, Pol Lt Ronnachai Chobka of the Nong Plub police station told Daily News Online.

Her husband, Chaluay, 67, told police he was taking his wife on motorcycle and following a pickup truck, when a large male elephant came out of the roadside bush and stopped in the middle of the road, in front of the truck.

The truck driver stopped and the couple was still on their bike, hiding behind the truck so that the animal could not see them, Mr Chaluay said. But the jumbo suddenly ran past the truck and struck the motorbike with his tusks, throwing him and Poonsub to the ground. The elephant then stomped Poonsub, killing her instantly.

Mr Chaluay, who sustained scratches from the fall, said he screamed for help and nearby park officials came to chase the elephant away.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general ... in-hua-hin

[Big Boy]

Yes, there were gruesome photos on Facebook yesterday evening - I didn't report it then because there was no source other than the photos. The elephant stomped her arm first, and then her head, after initially knocking her from the bike with its trunk.

[usual suspect]

Poor, poor woman..she gets to 65yrs old, then this happens to her..
RIP my dear.

[gohlingyaw]

A wild bull elephant damaged four vehicles and caused alarm among tourists at Khao Yai National Park.