Thailand: Elephant goes on wild convenience store snacking raid
Shopkeepers have watched on in amazement as a ravenous rogue elephant went on a convenience store snacking spree in Thailand.
The wild elephant who locals call Plai Biang Lek, wandered into the local town which is nestled adjacent to the Khao Yai National Park in northeastern Thailand, and chose the small store to go on his feeding frenzy.
After a short pause outside he burst through the front entrance and squeezed himself into aisles and over table displays as he grabbed anything he thought was food.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Local authorities tried in vain to move the elehpant out of the area as he downed snacks, seemingly unperturbed by the attention.
The elephant later backed out of the shop still holding a bag of snacks with his trunk and appeared to leave the store relatively undamaged, except for some mud marks on the floor and ceiling.
In a video posted on social media, Kamploy Kakaew, the shop owner, described the moment the elephant rifled her shop. She said he ate about nine bags of sweet rice crackers, a sandwich and some dried bananas she had bought that morning.
Ms Kamploy said the elephant left without hurting anyone after having his fill of snacks.
Danai Sookkanthachat, a volunteer park worker familiar with the elephant, said Plai Biang Lek, who is about 30 years old, is a familiar sight in the area and has been known to enter people’s houses in search of food. This was the first time he had seen him going into a grocery store.
“After he left the shop, he went on to open a bedroom window of another house,” he told The Associated Press.
Danai said wild elephants in the Khao Yai National Park area have been coming out of the woods to ransack people’s kitchens for many years, but this year he has started seeing them going into more random places to find food.
There were an estimated 4000 wild elephants in Thailand in 2024, according to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. As farmers push into forests for agriculture, elephants have been forced to venture out of their shrinking habitats in search of food, leading to confrontations that can turn deadly.
With AP.
