Rampaging wild elephant crosses back into Thailand

A wild elephant that caused disturbances after it strayed into Cambodia through the Thai border in Battambang province, has made its way back into Thailand after having spent almost two weeks in the Cambodian countryside.

Phnom Proek district police chief Song Sopheak said the six-tonne female elephant had been spotted making its way back to Thailand’s Chanthaburi province on Saturday evening.

“There is a possibility that the elephant actually resides in the Cambodian side of the border,” Mr Sopheak said.

Authorities had initially prepared to adopt emergency measures – including the use of a tranquillizer gun to sedate the elephant before taking it to Tamao Zoo, because stray elephants can pose a threat to local communities when provoked.

On Thursday, local famer Chork Kimhai, 32, was trampled by the elephant while she was sleeping inside her tent in a cassava field in Phnom Proek district’s Bour commune. The victim is still in the provincial hospital and some of her ribs are broken.

The elephant had crossed the border in Battambang province’s Sampov Loun district on the night of January 10, walked to Banteay Meanchey province, and went on a rampage that resulted in the destruction of properties and sugarcane crops in the province’s Malai district – although fortunately no one was injured.

According to Thai authorities, the elephant broke loose from an electric fence enclosure for behaviour-adjustment in a forest conservation project area in Sa Kaeo province in Thailand.

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