Thai police have charged a keeper after an elephant he was caring for stabbed and killed a Spanish tourist last week.
Theerayut Inthaphudkij, 38, has been charged with negligence causing death, local authorities said on Monday.
The visitor – 22-year-old Blanca Ojanguren García – was bathing an elephant at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Center in southern Thailand. when he was attacked by this animal.
This has renewed concern over Thailand’s booming elephant tourism industry, which animal rights groups have long criticized as illegal and dangerous.
Activists say bathing elephants interferes with their natural grooming process and can harm the animals, putting them in unnecessary danger.
After the attack, experts speculated that the elephant may have been stressed due to interacting with tourists.
García suffered head injuries – and later died in hospital – after the elephant, Phang Somboon, a 45-year-old woman, pushed her with the elephant. Her boyfriend who was traveling with her witnessed the attack.
There are about 3,000 elephants kept in tourist attractions throughout Thailand, according to estimates by the international organization World Animal Protection.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) told the BBC in a statement that “incidents like this highlight the dangers to people and animals alike.”
“Any ‘sanctuary’ that allows people to touch, feed, bathe, or interact with elephants in any way is not an elephant sanctuary and puts the lives of visitors and animals at serious risk,” said Peta senior vice president Jason Baker. .
Similar charges of negligence have previously been brought against caretakers whose elephants killed tourists.
In 2017, an elephant camp owner and caretaker were charged with negligence causing death and injury after an elephant killed a Chinese tour guide and injured two tourists in the Thai beach town of Pattaya. In 2013, a 27-year-old elephant had its tusks knocked out after it attacked and killed a woman.
García, a law and international relations student at Spain’s University of Navarra, lived in Taiwan as part of a student exchange program. She and her boyfriend arrived in Thailand on 26 December 2024.
Spain’s foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, said the Spanish embassy in Bangkok is helping García’s family.
Additional reporting by Kelly Ng
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