A tragic incident happened when a male elephant named Pha Tulu belonging to the Karen tribe fatally stabbed his owner with his tusks at the intersection of Mai Village, Mae Tan Subdistrict, Tha Song Yang District, Tak Province, northern Thailand. Pha Phi Du Lerttikhamphon, a 57-year-old mahout, died from a traumatic injury in his body.
The elephant refused to obey Pha Phi Du’s orders to take him to the vehicle and deliver him to his new owner in Surin Province after being sold for 2,760,000 baht. Pha Phi Du became enraged and beat Pha Tulu with his equipment. The elephant then retaliated with his tusks, stomping on the mahout till he died.
The elephant then kept guard over his master’s dead body. Tha Song Yang police officers had to seek help from the Chiang Mai Elephant Conservation Foundation and the Petchkasem Tha Song Yang Foundation Rescue Unit.
It took the rescue team many hours to defuse the situation and enter the forest to retrieve Pha Phi Du’s body. The elephant was hit with anesthetic multiple times by the veterinary team before it calmed down. They will reconsider whether the elephant can be loaded onto a vehicle and transported to Surin.
Villagers said that the elephant understood human language and resisted to be relocated.
______
Related artcles:
