Thai police on Wednesday charged a mahout (elephant trainer) with negligence after his elephant injured a Spanish tourist last week, who later died. TASR informs about it according to the AFP agency and the BBC website.
“We charged him with negligence causing death and he will be brought to court today,” said the local police chief. The mahout faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 200,000 baht (about 5,700 euros). The tragic incident took place on Friday at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Center in Phang Nga province. During elephant bathing, popular with tourists, an elephant attacked a Spanish woman and seriously injured her with a tusk. She later died in hospital.
Blanca Ojanguren Garcíová (22) studied law and international relations at the University of Navarre and was in Taiwan as part of a student exchange program. Together with their friend, they arrived in Thailand on December 26. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said the Spanish consulate in Bangkok was providing the necessary assistance to her family.
Bathing elephants is a popular activity for tourists. However, animal rights groups argue that it can cause stress to the elephants and criticize it as unethical and dangerous. According to World Animal Protection, around 2,800 elephants are kept for tourism purposes throughout Thailand.
While dangerous encounters between villagers and wild elephants are relatively common, attacks in elephant centers are rare. Wild elephants have killed 227 people, including tourists, in Thailand over the past 12 years, according to official figures.
