Elephant Stomps Thai Man To Death In The Presence Of Prime Minister Yingluck

[brianP]

A few years back a large German woman was at the Rose Garden Elephant show, when the banana feeding at shows end came around and all the other elephants were being fed their green bananas, The woman kept teasing her elephant and putting the food in his face and withdrawing it,even when other tourists told her to stop and give him some. Finally the elephant grabbed the banana stock and the woman grabbed it back and struck the elephants trunk as a reprimand. The elephant knocked the woman to the ground and did a head stand on her.

Don't mess with living things bigger or wilder then yourself. The Elephant was not punished for the unfortunate incident.

[draftvader]

A Thai friend and I were recently talking about elephants. She said that it was "lovely to see them on parade". I mumbled something about preferring them in the wild. She replied that "you could go to Lampang to the Royal Elephant Conservation Project". Unfortunately I already had. I have seen the elephants rocking backwards and forwards whilst chained up in the pavilions where the tourists (that day, sadly, me included) come to point at them and, in some cases, ride them. These elephants look physically healthy, but their mental states are quite obviously disturbed.

These are intelligent beings that we mistreat for our gains. Every so often one of them bites back. You can see sure that once in a while slave traders met a mucky death at the hands of their charges. Sure, the retribution would have been swift and way over the balance, but the slave trader would still have been dead.

One up for the elephants then. Shame it was an "innocent" bystander though.

Everyone would love wild elephants...where???? Poachers seem to like the ones on what few preserves there are. How many elephants were there in Thailand during the logging years compared to now? Ever wonder where the extra ones went. I think better in captivity than Dead.

Simple really. Create government based incentives to preserve wildlife reserves and the wildlife that lives in it. Model change in the economy to support it. NOTHING is impossible for the human race if we put our minds to it. It is just poor misdirection to suit the pockets of a few.

[Mosha]

Here's a clip showing the unpredicatability of an elephant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZKwkGqDIQY

Well clearly the elephant was feeding and the guy was picking up his food.

Foolish with any animal. I live near many elephants and won't go up to them unless the mahut is saying OK.

And never when they are feeding.

one could wonder, who is "the unpredictable" in this video...

If he messed with my dinner I'd have kicked him in the nuts

[alanferdi]

elephants indeed have an elephant brain... they remember everything and everyone - for all times...

im not sure, if an elephant gets quickly that aggressive...

imo, a lot of abuse has to have happened (before)...

Maybe after seeing the Prime Minister.....he remembered her brother, and showed her what he might do to him if he returned to Thailand.

[geriatrickid]

"The alms-offering activity chaired by the prime minister later went on as scheduled"

Hmm... maybe would've been nice to have changed her PR opportunity of offering alms into a time to show sympathy for someone who lost their life in front of her instead of going on like nothing happened?

Why the need for an insincere gesture?

I'm not writing that because of the PM, but rather because the gesture would have been empty. Such an approach is typical of the west and it is done more to avoid criticism. If an elephant had defended itself in Paris and the French PM not cried fake tears and made some sort of statement on how his heart went out to he deceased, the media would have run with the story about an uncaring PM.

There were alot of people that came for the event. Why should they have been disappointed and penalized because some twit was unable to behave himself? If people were distraught they were free to leave.

Everyday, people die in car crashes. Does this require that all vehicles in the area stop what they are doing? Life goes on. Stopping the event would have served no purpose.

Edited August 1, 2012 by geriatrickid

[geriatrickid]

elephants indeed have an elephant brain... they remember everything and everyone - for all times...

im not sure, if an elephant gets quickly that aggressive...

imo, a lot of abuse has to have happened (before)...

Maybe after seeing the Prime Minister.....he remembered her brother, and showed her what he might do to him if he returned to Thailand.

A wonderful illustration of Morgan's Canon.

In no case is an animal activity to be interpreted in terms of higher psychological processes if it can be fairly interpreted in terms of processes which stand lower in the scale of psychological evolution and development

My animal behaviour prof. would have shredded you.

[phiphidon]

Here's a clip showing the unpredicatability of an elephant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZKwkGqDIQY

Well clearly the elephant was feeding and the guy was picking up his food.

Foolish with any animal. I live near many elephants and won't go up to them unless the mahut is saying OK.

And never when they are feeding.

Thought you lived in Bangkok or have they relaxed the ban on elephants in town?

[HerbalEd]

elephants indeed have an elephant brain... they remember everything and everyone - for all times...

im not sure, if an elephant gets quickly that aggressive...

imo, a lot of abuse has to have happened (before)...

Abuse ... or fear.

[Buchholz]

"The alms-offering activity chaired by the prime minister later went on as scheduled"

Hmm... maybe would've been nice to have changed her PR opportunity of offering alms into a time to show sympathy for someone who lost their life in front of her instead of going on like nothing happened?

He's not amataya. He's rural poor. He's phrai. He's insignificant to those whose presence was notable.

"The alms-offering activity chaired by the prime minister later went on as scheduled"

Hmm... maybe would've been nice to have changed her PR opportunity of offering alms into a time to show sympathy for someone who lost their life in front of her instead of going on like nothing happened?

Why the need for an insincere gesture?

We agree for a change. To display any compassion for phrai would be beneath her and would be an empty, insincere gesture if she did.

.

Edited August 1, 2012 by Buchholz

[Nigel1500]

There are days when I wish I was that elephant ...

[cowslip]

elephants indeed have an elephant brain... they remember everything and everyone - for all times...

im not sure, if an elephant gets quickly that aggressive...

imo, a lot of abuse has to have happened (before)...

Maybe after seeing the Prime Minister.....he remembered her brother, and showed her what he might do to him if he returned to Thailand.

A wonderful illustration of Morgan's Canon.

In no case is an animal activity to be interpreted in terms of higher psychological processes if it can be fairly interpreted in terms of processes which stand lower in the scale of psychological evolution and development

My animal behaviour prof. would have shredded you.

good point unfortunately this sort of thinking pervades so many of the animal "do-gooders" in Thailand......and on ThaiVisa

[luckyman]

Here's a clip showing the unpredicatability of an elephant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZKwkGqDIQY

Great clip! Thanks for sharin'!

[OzMick]

"The alms-offering activity chaired by the prime minister later went on as scheduled"

Hmm... maybe would've been nice to have changed her PR opportunity of offering alms into a time to show sympathy for someone who lost their life in front of her instead of going on like nothing happened?

Why the need for an insincere gesture?

I'm not writing that because of the PM, but rather because the gesture would have been empty. Such an approach is typical of the west and it is done more to avoid criticism. If an elephant had defended itself in Paris and the French PM not cried fake tears and made some sort of statement on how his heart went out to he deceased, the media would have run with the story about an uncaring PM.

There were alot of people that came for the event. Why should they have been disappointed and penalized because some twit was unable to behave himself? If people were distraught they were free to leave.

Everyday, people die in car crashes. Does this require that all vehicles in the area stop what they are doing? Life goes on. Stopping the event would have served no purpose.

Sure, why interrupt one insincere gesture to make another. Or do you think a billionaire donating a few thousand baht is sincerely hoping to buy brownie points on her road to enlightenment, but she is prepared to lie under oath to help her brother avoid taxes?

Is someone playing "Stairway to Heaven' in the background?

[crazydrummerpauly]

Here's a clip showing the unpredicatability of an elephant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZKwkGqDIQY

Wow - the awesome SPEED that massive, heavy trunk whips around - like a whip - absolutely no chance to duck !