A Spanish woman has tragically lost her life after being gored by an elephant at a sanctuary in southern Thailand. Blanca Ojanguren Garcia, 22, was bathing the elephant at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Center when the animal appeared to panic and hit her with its tusk, local police reported.
Garcia, visiting Thailand with her boyfriend, was in the center of the island of Koh Yao Yai, a popular excursion destination for tourists staying on the neighboring resort island of Phuket. The couple enjoyed the experience of elephant bathing, a popular tourist activity in the country, known for its populations of wild and domestic elephants.
According to Koh Yao district police chief Charan Bangprasert, the owner of the shrine immediately alerted authorities after the incident, and an investigation is currently underway.
Elephants, Thailand’s national animal, have seen a dramatic decline in wild populations, mainly due to threats from tourism, logging, poaching and habitat destruction. Estimates suggest that Thailand’s wild elephant population has fallen to between 3,000 and 4,000 individuals, compared to more than 100,000 at the start of the 20th century.
Meanwhile, the number of elephants held in captivity increased by 134% between 2010 and 2020, with around 2,800 elephants now held at various tourist sites across Thailand.
The international nonprofit World Animal Protection has long expressed concern about the conditions in which many of these elephants live in captivity, citing the risks posed to both animals and tourists.
