Thai mahout charged after elephant mauls tourist to death

Thai police have charged a mahout after an elephant in his care stabbed a Spanish tourist to death last week.

Theerayut Inthaphudkij, 38, was charged with negligence causing death, local authorities said Monday.

The tourist – 22-year-old Blanca Ojanguren Garcia – was bathing the elephant at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Center in southern Thailand when she was attacked by the animal.

It has renewed concerns about Thailand’s booming elephant tourism industry, which animal rights groups have long criticized as unethical and dangerous.

Activists say bathing elephants is disruptive to natural grooming behavior and can injure the animals, exposing them to unnecessary stress.

After the attack, experts weighed in to say the elephant may have been stressed from interacting with tourists.

Garcia suffered a head injury – and later died in hospital – after the elephant, 45-year-old female Phang Somboon, pushed her with its tusk. The attack was witnessed by her boyfriend who was traveling with her.

There are nearly 3,000 elephants kept in tourist attractions in Thailand, according to an estimate by the international charity World Animal Protection.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) told the BBC in a statement that “such incidents highlight the dangers to both people and animals”.

“Any ‘sanctuary’ that allows people to touch, feed, bathe or interact closely with elephants in any way is not a sanctuary for elephants and puts the lives of tourists and animals at critical risk,” said Sr. Peta Vice President Jason Baker.

Similar allegations of negligence have been leveled before against mahouts whose elephants have killed tourists.

In 2017 An elephant camp owner and a mahout have been charged with recklessness causing death and injury after an elephant killed a Chinese guide and injured two tourists in the Thai beach city of Pattaya. In 2013 A 27-year-old elephant had its tusks chopped off after it attacked and killed a woman.

Garcia, a law and international relations student at Spain’s University of Navarra, was living in Taiwan as part of a student exchange program. She and her boyfriend arrived in Thailand on December 26, 2024.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albarez said the Spanish consulate in Bangkok was helping Garcia’s family.

Additional reporting by Kelly Ng