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A wild bull elephant trampled and killed a 65-year-old tourist at a national park in Thailand on Monday, according to park officials.
The tourist was taking a morning walk with his wife when an elephant named Oyewan trampled him at Khao Yai National Park, national park chief Chaiya Huayhongthong told AFP.
Park rangers managed to scare the animal away, which allowed the tourist’s wife to escape, Chaiya said.
“He was the third person killed by Oyewan,” he said, adding that authorities will meet on Friday to decide on how to deal with the elephant.
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The entrance to Khao Yai National Park in central Thailand is seen in December 2021. (Carola Frentzen/picture alliance via Getty Images)
“We will probably decide to relocate him or change his behavior,” he told the outlet, without elaborating.
The tourist killed was identified as Jirathachai Jiraphatboonyathorn from Lopburi province, the Bangkok Post reported.
A Thai boy washes an elephant near the Khao Yai national park on March 19, 2017, in Pak Chong, Thailand. (Isa Foltin/Getty Images)
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Fox News Digital reached out to Khao Yai National Park but did not immediately hear back.
An elephant bull stands in the Ban Ta Klang elephant village in Surin, Thailand, on Nov. 14, 2015. (Ian Robert Knight/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Wild elephants have caused an estimated 227 human fatalities between 2012 and 2024 in Thailand, The Nation reported, citing a report from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation.
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The elephant population in Thailand has ballooned since 2015, rising from 334 to nearly 800 last year, AFP reported. Authorities have been trying to manage the population by giving female elephants contraceptive vaccines.
