A farmer was killed by elephants in rural Thailand yesterday, the second such attack in as many months, prompting calls by the Thai Wildlife Conservation Club (WCC) for the government to deal with a situation they say is reaching crisis levels.
Pineapple farmer Ake Homhuan, 73, was guarding his pineapple fields in Chachoengsao province’s Tha Takiap District at the time of the incident, which took place in the early morning hours.
Ake’s legs, arms and ribs had been broken when he was found, reported Thairath. A roughly 20-meter trail near his body, leading to a cottage where water was being boiled, led authorities to suspect the elephants had dragged Ake from his cottage as he was making coffee.
Local officials, who also discovered many of the pineapples at the farm had been eaten, believe at least two elephants were involved.
While Thailand’s wild elephant population has dwindled to about 2,700 from a peak of 100,000 in 1850, according to the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre, deforestation and habitat loss has brought them in closer contact with humans in recent decades, leading to clashes in which both villagers and elephants have been killed.
Just two months ago, a volunteer official was also killed by elephants while returning from a training course, ironically one focused specifically on what to do when a wild elephant wanders loose into a village.
In early 2018, two wild elephants were killed by a pineapple farm worker in Chonburi province, who set up an electric fence for that purpose.
He was charged with poaching but quickly released on bail.
In an interview with local outlet Workpoint, Bodin Chantasikham, president of the Wildlife Conservation Club (WCC), said he believed the elephants had likely been chased out of another area before attacking Ake, something that would have put them in an agitated state.
Though the WCC has pushed for the government to create safe spaces for pachyderms to avoid these sorts of conflicts, Bodin said that in the past 20 years, the government has not made consistent efforts.
He believes a population survey of both elephants and resources in conserved forest areas is needed. Moreover, the government should make it clear to people what areas are safe to live in and guarantee those areas don’t overlap with jungle inhabited by elephants.
Long-term solutions, he said, are much needed.
Additional Reporting by AFP
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