Rogue elephant heads towards Cambodia
A wild elephant named Plai Sidor Daeng is heading towards Cambodia despite Thai officials and volunteers’ attempt to block its path with 10 tractors in the border village of Ban Thab Prik in Sa Kaew’s Aranyaprathet district on Wednesday morning.
One hundred officers from several wildlife sanctuaries and community volunteers tried to chase the elephant back towards the Ang Rue Nai wildlife sanctuary – from where it is believed to have strayed – instead of heading to Cambodia, said Manote Rattanatrai, an elephant lookout team chief at Khao Soidao wildlife sanctuary.
If the pachyderm crossed to Cambodia, it would be regarded as a wild animal of that country, Manote said.
He said the officials and volunteers were being cautious and kept a distance from the elephant, which was known as being roguish and had previously fatally attacked several people in Chanthaburi.
The six-tonne, no-tusk Plai Sidor Daeng has reportedly intruded on people’s farms, damaging and eating crops and bananas in many areas from Soidao district, Chanthaburi, to Wangsomboon district, Sa Kaew.
The animal made news headlines last June when it broke away from confinement behind an electrical fence in the Khao Takrup Forest Conservation Project area in Sa Kaew’s Wang Nam Yen district just three hours after being sent there from Chanthaburi for taming and behaviour-adjustment.
At that time, the animal fled to the Ang Rue Nai wildlife sanctuary, which officials thought was a good thing because it wouldn’t disturb people again.