Elephant kills UK tourist on the island of Koh Samui, Thailand

Two tourists from the UK were thrown off an elephant's back in the latest attack by animals used in tourist entertainment business

Father and daughter from UK were attacked yesterday, while riding an elephant on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand. They were both thrown off the animal's back and the father was trampled to death by the angry animal, due to his prosthetic leg that made him unable to run away from the attack.

The tourist's daughter and the elephant's handler were both severely injured. The male elephant was tranquilized and calmed down.

Paiboon Omark, district police chief, declared for the AFP news agency:

"We suspect that the hot weather made the elephant angry and that he was not accustomed to his mahout [handler].”

Edwin Wiek, founder of the Wildlife Friends Foundation of Thailand, has another explanation for the deadly incident: the animal was "in musth and was reacting aggressively". "Male elephants should not be a part of these treks at all as they are uncontrollable when they are in heat," Wiek added.

This was Thailand's sixth fatal accident due to musth of bull elephants in the last five months, as in August of 2015 a handler was reported dead and three Chinese tourists were injured following the same scenario.

Thailand offers elephant rides using more than 4.000 domesticated animals. Wildlife NGO's, animal rights activists and conservationists worldwide are continuously campaigning against using wild animals as entertainers in the tourism industry.