Wildlife ranger killed by elephant in village in Thailand

A wildlife ranger was trampled to death by a wild elephant while trying to drive it back into the forest in northeastern Thailand.

Weera Ratchawong, 66, tried to scare the elephant away with loud noises when it charged at him in Buriram province in the early hours of May 14.

The jumbo reportedly knocked him down before stomping him into the ground near Khlong Hin Lat Village at around 4 am local time.

Prasit Jupamatang, 61, a Dong Yai National Park elephant management officer, said he rushed to the scene near farmland to help, following reports that Weera had been attacked, but arrived too late to save him.

The ranger was found lifeless with gruesome injuries to his head and arms. He was wearing an orange shirt and grey pants, while his motorcycle had been toppled nearby.

Authorities said Weera was the chief of the Dong Yai Wild Elephant Surveillance Network - a community group formed to monitor and repel elephants straying into residential areas.

His wife said around 14 villagers would usually set out during missions, but her husband left alone before the fatal attack.

Residents said elephant intrusions had become increasingly common as the growing wild elephant population repeatedly wandered into communities, damaging homes, destroying crops, and sometimes hurting residents.

Village headman Manus Yiamrum said: 'Wild elephants enter the village almost every day, sometimes one to three at a time.

'Villagers are living in fear because the elephants are wandering from the forest and people can no longer live peacefully. Authorities need to seriously address this problem. We also keep hearing reports from nearby areas where several people are killed by elephants every year.'

As of 2024, there are an estimated 4,013 to 4,422 wild elephants in Thailand. The population has been increasing in recent years, but it is still a fraction of the estimated 300,000 wild elephants that lived in Thailand at the beginning of the 20th century. The main threats to wild elephants in Thailand are habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and conflict with humans.