(CNN) — A Spanish woman was gored to death by an elephant while bathing the animal at a sanctuary in southern Thailand on Friday, according to local police.
Blanca Ojanguren Garcia, 22, and her boyfriend were giving a bath to an elephant at Koh Yao Elephant Care center when the animal seemed to “panic” and pierced her with its tusk, police told CNN.
Bathing elephants at animal sanctuaries is a popular activity for tourists in Thailand, which is home to both wild and domesticated populations.
Garcia was visiting Thailand with her boyfriend, and the couple had been on a day trip to the center on Koh Yao Yai island while staying in Thailand’s popular resort island of Phuket, Koh Yao district police chief Charan Bangprasert told CNN. The owner of the center informed police of the incident on Friday and an investigation is underway, the police chief said.
CNN has reached out to the elephant care center and Spain’s embassy in Thailand for comment.
Elephants, Thailand’s national animal, have seen their wild population decline in recent decades due to threats from tourism, logging, poaching and human encroachment on elephant habitats.
Experts estimate the wild elephant population in Thailand has dwindled to 3,000-4,000, a decline from more than 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century.
Meanwhile, the number of captive elephants has increased 134% between 2010 and 2020, with estimates that around 2,800 elephants are being held across Thailand in tourism venues, according to the international non-profit World Animal Protection.
The charity has urged against the exploitation of elephants by the tourism industry and called for an end to captive breeding, voicing alarm for the conditions that many are kept in, including in isolation.
“Elephants are highly intelligent animals with the capacity for complex thoughts and emotions,” the charity said in a 2020 report. “Managing elephants is extremely high risk and highlights their unsuitability for captive environments, especially when in direct contact with people.”
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