Overworked Elephant Rips Owner In Half
An overworked elephant used his tusks to rip his owner in half in the Thai province of Phang Nga after being forced to work in extremely hot weather.
Officers from Takua Thung Police Station responded to a call about the elephant owner’s death at around 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday in the Tha Yu subdistrict.
When they arrived, authorities were informed that Pom Pam, a 20-year-old male elephant, had ripped apart his owner, 32-year-old Supachai Wongfaed.
Rescue workers, officers, and the village chief went to the scene of the gruesome attack where they found Wongfaed’s corpse split in half in a pool of blood with Pom Pam standing over it.
Phang Nga Provincial Livestock officers were called to sedate the elephant so rescue workers could retrieve the body of Wongfaed, the son of Thawon Wongfaed, Khok Charoen subdistrict’s former mayor.
During their preliminary investigation, Takua Thung Police officers learned that Pom Pam was forced to carry wood in the rubber plantation prior to the attack. The officers suggested the hot weather made the elephant “go crazy” and attack its owner.
Elephants are typically seen as good-natured animals, but they can potentially hurt humans if they feel unsafe or distressed. One elephant made headlines in June for killing a 70-year-old woman and then crashing her funeral to trample on her corpse.
What exactly did the elephant say about being overworked?