Rogue ‘Thai’ elephant attacks woman in Cambodia
The killer wild elephant that evaded efforts to keep it on Thai soil and entered Cambodia last week attacked a resident of Battambang on Cambodia’s northwestern border early on Thursday morning.
An official source on the Cambodian side said 32-year-old Chok Kim Hay was attacked at 2.30am in the village of Damnaksan after stumbling upon the animal known as Plai Sidor Daeng.
She was taken to hospital with a severe shoulder injury.
Plai Sidor Daeng, which weighs six tonnes despite having no tusks, previously lived mainly in Thailand’s Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary.
It is known to have killed several people in Chanthaburi in recent years.
It made its way across the border last week after emerging from the forest earlier in the month and raiding farms from Chanthaburi to Sa Kaew, damaging and eating crops.
The pachyderm first made headlines last June when it broke through an electrified fence just three hours after being penned up for “behaviour adjustment”.
That was in the Khao Takrup Forest Conservation Area in Sa Kaew’s Wang Nam Yen district. The animal disappeared into the Ang Rue Nai sanctuary, a move that officials welcomed because it would stop causing disturbances.