Elephants attempt to pick pineapples from lorry
Wild elephants blocked the road near Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi in an apparent effort to collect pineapples as a “toll” from a passing lorry.
A video uploaded on the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department Facebook fan page shows a large male elephant standing in the middle of the road blocking traffic. National park officers had to chase the animal away from the road and drive it back into the forest.
Kaeng Krachan National Park chief Mana Phermphun said officers received a call from the lorry driver, who was transporting pineapples to a food-processing factory, to help drive the wild elephant away. The driver said the lorry was stopped by three elephants that tried to pick pineapples to eat.
Kaeng Krachan National Park is one of several areas that have a problem with wild elephants encroaching on nearby farmland. Food sources within the forest are fewer and harder to find than on the farms.