A rubber tapping worker has been attacked by a wild elephant as he was repairing a wire fence intended to prevent wild elephants stray into agricultural land at Hat Kham Subdistrict, Kui Buri District just metres from the National Park.
Mr. Wanchai (Tai), Nonthakarn, age 32 years old, said that he had seen the elephant emerge from the forest as he was working. He had tried to run away, but was knocked over by an elephant until falling into a bamboo grove.
He said that the elephant had used a foot to step on his right leg, but only lightly as if it was using its toes. The other foot stepped on his back but again not with the full weight. At that moment Mr Wanchai says he thought he “probably wouldn’t survive” but played dead by lying still. After a few seconds the elephant walked away from the scene.
Local people then came to his aid and he was taken to Kui Buri hospital where a doctor found that there may be bleeding in the abdomen and transferred him to Prachuap Khiri Khan Hospital. He was then diagnosed with spinal fractures with liver and kidney injuries.
Mr. Tassanet Petchong, the head of Kui Buri National Park said that staff had inspected the area and found traces of many wild elephants. However the area is yet be equipped with a CC TV camera which is used to monitor wild elephants entering agricultural land so that they can be chased back to the forest. He visited the injured man in hospital to express his concerns about the incident.
Mr Wanchai expects to back at work soon and dismisses the event as ‘just an accident,’
