Thai police have charged a mahout after an elephant in his care gored a Spanish tourist to death last week.
Theerayut Inthaphudkij, 38, was charged with negligence resulting in death, local authorities announced Monday.
The tourist – Blanca Ojanguren García, 22 – was bathing the elephant at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Center in southern Thailand when she was attacked by the animal.
That has reignited concerns about Thailand’s booming elephant tourism industry, which animal rights groups have long criticized as unethical and dangerous.
Campaigners say bathing elephants disrupts natural grooming behaviors and could injure the animals, exposing them to unnecessary stress.
After the attack, experts believed the elephant might have been stressed from interacting with tourists.
García suffered a head injury – and later died in hospital – after the elephant, Phang Somboon, a 45-year-old female, pushed her with its tusk. Her boyfriend, who was traveling with her, witnessed the attack.
Nearly 3,000 elephants are held at tourist attractions across Thailand, according to an estimate by international charity World Animal Protection.
The group for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) told the BBC in a statement that “incidents like this highlight the dangers to humans and animals.”
“Any ‘sanctuary’ that allows humans to touch, feed, bathe or interact closely with elephants in any way is not a place of refuge for elephants and endangers the lives of tourists and endangered animals,” said Jason Baker, senior vice president of Peta. .
Similar accusations of negligence have already been made against mahouts whose elephants killed tourists.
In 2017, an elephant camp owner and a mahout were charged with recklessness causing death and injury after an elephant killed a Chinese tour guide and injured two tourists in the Thai resort town of Pattaya. In 2013, a 27-year-old elephant had its tusks cut off after attacking and killing a woman.
García, a law and international relations student at the Spanish University of Navarra, was living in Taiwan as part of a student exchange program. She and her boyfriend arrived in Thailand on December 26, 2024.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said the Spanish consulate in Bangkok was helping García’s family.
Additional reporting by Kelly Ng
