Wild elephant crisis deepens as residents complain of repeated raids into village

The wild elephant crisis in Thailand is escalating as hungry herds continue raiding villages in search of food.

More than 13 wild elephants wandered out of Khao Yai National Park and into villages, restaurants and farmland on July 17, sparking alarm among residents in Nakhon Ratchasima.

Volunteers and residents have been patrolling the area every night to drive the elephants away, as village officials urge wildlife departments to send help.

Village council leader Sitthichai Leksak said: ‘Each elephant exhibits different behaviour.

‘Some can be easily driven back into the forest, while others are stubborn and aggressive, requiring coordinated efforts from multiple agencies.

‘Trying to deal with them alone can be extremely dangerous. Most members of the elephant patrol are volunteers who carry out these duties after finishing work.

‘If some of them are unavailable, our numbers drop immediately, making it very difficult to manage the elephants.'

He added that one restaurant narrowly avoided major damage a day earlier, when jumbos were drawn to a large stock of mangoes stored near a refrigerator.

Footage shows volunteers arriving from another patrol chasing the pachyderm away before it could destroy the property.

Phra Athikan Kampanat Suketito, president of the Khao Yai Wildlife and Environmental Conservation Group, said wild elephants that have emerged from the forest are no longer returning to Khao Yai National Park.

The animals have dispersed across vacant land and small patches of forest, establishing new habitat.

Erratic weather has reduced the availability of natural food in the forest, while delays to crop planting have also contributed to the problem, prompting the elephants to search for food in nearby communities instead.

He said: ‘Setting up elephant pushback teams merely addresses the symptoms rather than the root cause, as there is no clear destination to drive the elephants back to.

‘Many operations simply end up chasing the elephants back and forth in circles before they return to the villages again.

‘I urge the restoration of food sources, water supplies and mineral licks deep inside the forest, alongside the installation of barriers and the establishment of a structured elephant management system.

‘A major weakness in monitoring occurs between midnight and the early morning, when volunteers must rest before going to work the following day.

‘However, elephants have learned that human activity and vehicle traffic decrease during this period, making it the time they are most likely to enter villages in search of food, placing residents and the public at the greatest risk.'

He urged local authorities to play a more active role in monitoring the elephants, warning that volunteers cannot continue handling the problem alone.

Elephants are known for their voracious appetite. The World Wildlife Federation (WWF) found need to eat up to 150kg of food per day - the equivalent of 375 tins of baked beans

Conservationists in Thailand say that wild elephants have even developed a taste for human food and prefer to rummage through homes and vehicles for snacks, instead of the bland leaves they find in the forest.

Thailand is home to an estimated 3,500 wild elephants, a number that has increased in recent years but remains far below the estimated 300,000 that once roamed the country in the early 20th century.

The main threats to wild elephants in Thailand remain habitat loss, fragmentation, poaching, and human-wildlife conflict.