The elephant is said to have attacked its handler first, before turning on Mr Crowe. This is another elephant on the same park where Mr Crowe was killed
The elephant is said to have attacked its handler first, before turning on Mr Crowe. This is another elephant on the same park where Mr Crowe was killed
Thai authorities said Tuesday that a Scottish tourist was gored by an enraged elephant and trampled to death during a trekking tour on the resort island of Koh Samui.

Gareth Crowe, 36, and his stepdaughter, Eilidh Hughes, 16, were riding the adult elephant when they were thrown from the animal, police told Agence France-Presse. Crowe's stepdaughter and the elephant's handler were able to escape, but Crowe — who had a prosthetic leg, police said — could not outrun the elephant, Samui District Chief Paiboon Omark told AFP.

Crowe was wounded by the elephant's tusk and trampled. He died after being transported to a local hospital.

According to Thai news reports, the elephant — named Rambo but also known as Golf — became upset when his handler, called a mahout, climbed down to take a picture for the tourists.


"We suspect that the hot weather made the elephant angry and that he was not accustomed to his mahout," Paiboon told AFP.

Crowe's stepdaughter was injured in the fall and the mahout was gored; both were treated at a hospital, according to the Associated Press.

Rambo the elephant, also known as Golf, is chained to a tree on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand on Tuesday.
© APRambo the elephant, also known as Golf, is chained to a tree on the island of Koh Samui in Thailand on Tuesday.
Jonathan Head, a South Asia correspondent for BBC News, told "Good Morning Scotland" that police said the elephant apparently became upset when the handler got down. Crowe and his stepdaughter were thrown from its back — "it's quite high up on an elephant," Head noted — and then the animal "attacked Mr. Crowe on the ground, where he was apparently gored and trampled."

Police told reporters the elephant may have been in heat. But one Thai official — Cherdchai Jaroenwech, with the Office of Livestock Development — told the Associated Press that those claims were not accurate.

Whatever the case, once the animal became enraged, the BBC's Head reported, its handler "was clearly having some trouble controlling the elephant. They have a sort of iron spike that they use — it looks rather brutal — but they use it to strike the elephant's head, not usually very hard, but at least to let it know what to do. He was struggling a bit with that, so there were indications that things were wrong."

After the incident, Rambo was given a tranquilizer and taken to his corral, officials said. The animal will be given a 15-day rest from tours and will then be moved to another branch in the trekking company, Island Safari, either in Krabi or Phang Nga.

Crowe's death spotlighted the controversial and often dangerous world of animal tourism in Thailand.

About 4,000 domesticated elephants — and fewer than 3,000 wild elephants — work in the industry, according to reports. The use of animals for tourism "is under increased scrutiny following a string of scandals and investigations by rights groups," AFP noted.

BBC News reported that there have been "about a dozen incidents similar" to Monday's deadly attack in the past 15 years.

Conservationists are set to meet Wednesday with the Thai government to talk about animal rights in the tourism trade.

"In my view, male elephants should not be in the tourism industry," Edwin Wiek, of Wildlife Friends of Thailand, told AFP. "They're simply too unpredictable."

Last year, a wild elephant rammed a car at Khao Yai National Park near the Thai capital, Bangkok, according to BBC News. Soon after, another elephant invaded a nearby shop and a restaurant. No one was injured in those incidents. Park chief Kanchit Srinoppawan told BBC News at the time that the animal's behavior could be blamed on the mating season.

Following Crowe's death, Britain's Foreign Office said it was providing help for the man's family.

"We are offering support to the family of a British national who has sadly died following an incident in Koh Samui, Thailand," a spokesman told BBC News, "and are making contact with the local authorities to seek further information."