Mr Riangngern was killed by Ekasit (pictured giving rides to tourists at the zoo) in a five-minute attack while his horrified wife watched on
Mr Riangngern was killed by Ekasit (pictured giving rides to tourists at the zoo) in a five-minute attack while his horrified wife watched on
Dumb-no!

A celebrity elephant — who has starred in movies and commercials — crushed its owner to death at a zoo in Thailand on Monday, according to reports.

"The elephant suddenly turned back and used his trunk to grab the victim. Then the elephant used his trunk to crush him," Wuthichai Muangman, acting director of the Chiang Mai zoo, told AFP.

Somsak Riengngen, 54, was unchaining his star mammoth, named Ekasit, so the tusker could drink and bathe, when the 5-ton animal attacked him.

The 32-year-old pachyderm took a couple of steps forward before changing course and hitting his owner with his trunk and tusks.

Witnesses said the attack lasted more than five minutes before handlers were able to restrain the elephant, local outlet Khaosod English reported.

The star bull elephant had worked with his owner for about a decade and didn't have a history of violence, handlers said.

He has appeared in five Thai films and four international movies and was being housed at the zoo until April.

Thailand is notorious for its elephant tourism business — animals give rides, perform and are hired out by tourists, AFP reports.

There are more elephants in Thailand's tourism industry than in the rest of Asia combined, with most kept in "severely inadequate conditions," a July report by World Animal Protection found.

The Chiang Mai zoo does not hold elephant shows but allows tourists to feed the animals, the acting director said.

"Whilst the general admission is very reasonable, I found it heartbreaking just how tiny some of the enclosures were, particularly for the two elephants," a visitor wrote in a review on the zoo's TripAdvisor page last week. "I also did not like the way they were chained up."

Animal rights campaign group Peta said that while the keeper's death was tragic it was an example of the potentially violent consequences of keeping elephants confined.

"Is it any wonder that some of these gentle animals eventually become fed up and fight back after being chained while confined to small enclosures that are a fraction of the size of their natural habitats?" it said in a statement.