Wild Elephant Electrocuted in Loei, Minister Orders Action

Thailand's Minister of Natural Resources and Environment has spoken out following the discovery of a male wild elephant carcass in a farmer's rice paddy located outside the Phu Luang Wildlife Sanctuary. Expressing grave concern over the incident, the minister directed the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation to coordinate with relevant agencies to investigate and legally prosecute whoever set up the lethal electrical current.

Meanwhile, the director-general of the wildlife department received a full report from the chief of the Phu Luang Wildlife Sanctuary detailing the deployment of a joint inspection team. This team comprised wildlife conservation officers from Regional Office 8 in Khอน Kaen, veterinary specialists, Wang Saphung district administrative officials, and local police officers from the Wang Saphung Police Station.

Inspection at the scene in Ban Yang Diao, Khao Luang subdistrict, Wang Saphung district, Loei province, revealed the carcass of a full-grown male wild elephant aged between 11 and 15 years, weighing approximately 2.5 tons. The animal was lying on its right side in roughly 30 centimeters of water in the rice field, estimated to have been dead for one to two days, with its trunk entangled in electrical wiring and rice vegetation still inside its mouth.

Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event

The veterinary team leading the necropsy identified burn marks on the trunk and front-left foot, along with skin blistering around the eyes and under the neck. Internal examinations revealed thermal damage, hemorrhaging in the heart muscle and digestive tract, a pale spleen, congested lungs, and subcutaneous bleeding. The preliminary diagnosis concluded that the elephant died from acute cardiopulmonary failure caused by electrocution.