Summary
Blanca Ojanguren, a 22-year-old Spanish tourist, was fatally attacked by an elephant at the Koh Yao Elephant Care sanctuary in Thailand while bathing the animal.
She was struck by its tusk, resulting in fatal injuries.
This tragedy highlights the risks of popular recreational activities involving elephants in Thailand.
It follows a recent fatal attack by a wild elephant on a Thai woman and adds to the 39 elephant-related deaths reported in 2024.
Not all “elephant experience” parks are the same. Some only have rescue animals, don’t use them for “shows”, segregate male animals from guests, and only allow interaction on the animal’s terms.
Similar to the difference between an accredited zoo and Joe Exotic.
Reading this thread is like a waterfall of ignorance and shitshow.
I’m no expert on animal husbandry, and in particular elephant sanctuaries, but I have recently been to one.
That being said, I’m sure there are elephant sanctuaries that treat their elephants bad, just as there are good ones. I can’t say which percentage of the sanctuaries are good/bad and I doubt any of the posters here can enlighten us on that.
What I can say is that these are NOT wild elephants. I was told there are roughly 12k wild elephants in Thailand.
These elephants are bought from farmers that are unable to sustain/feed the elephant from the work they are being used. Apparently it’s not uncommon to earn 500 Baht (ca 15 USD) a day as a farmer, and that is not enough to buy the 10% of body weight in food for the elephant. Elephants are often inhereted as they cost around 1 mill Baht (2,5 for baby).
So… Domesticated elephants can’t survive alone in the wild as they have been bred out some of the skills to manage on their own. So a mismanaged elephant is better off being sold off to a sanctuary that can care for it until it dies. Which is the purpose of sanctuaries - put an elephant out to pasture.
The sanctuary I visited only had female elephants and was but interested in breeding elephants - because they are not in it to add more domesticated elephants, but rescue elephants that need help. I’m sure other sanctuaries manage male elephants, I can’t say how they deal with mating and pregnancies in regards to rescue other elephants in need Vs “free elephant” for tourist trap.
TL;DR Post in this thread acts like domesticated elephants are a wild animal like a boar. It’s more like a cow that weighs 4-6 tonnes. Death by cow occurs every year, you don’t go screaming about that when it happens between your bites of hamburger. It’s of course horrible for the family of the poor girl being killed. Hopefully humans and elephants will get the treatment they need and deserve.
Most “sanctuaries” are more petting zoos than true sanctuaries.
The real sanctuaries have very strict rules about human/elephant interactions and do not have guests “bathing” elephants or even feeding elephants. Elephants are entirely capable of showering themselves. Forcing them to lie down and roll over to accommodate tourists showering them 3x a day is not part of their natural behavior.
Allowing them a comfortable and safe space to retire where they can be their natural selves is the goal of a real sanctuary. The rest of the places are petting zoos for the owners to enrich themselves under the guise of “altruistic elephant care”
These are huge animals and can mess a human up, intentionally or not. Not keeping some separation when dealing with them is inherently risky.
