Summary

Blanca Ojanguren, a 22-year-old Spanish tourist, was fatally attacked by an elephant at the Koh Yao Elephant Care sanctuary in Thailand while bathing the animal.

She was struck by its tusk, resulting in fatal injuries.

This tragedy highlights the risks of popular recreational activities involving elephants in Thailand.

It follows a recent fatal attack by a wild elephant on a Thai woman and adds to the 39 elephant-related deaths reported in 2024.

  • dmtalon@infosec.pub
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    8 months ago

    Well, there is a pretty big difference between a carnivore/omnivore and a herbivore animal when it comes to how dangerous they are to other animals including humans.

    But certainly not “safe” since they’re so huge, powerful and wild animals.

    • atro_city@fedia.io
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      8 months ago

      Bison are also herbivores and there’s no way in hell I’m going to pet those things.

      • dmtalon@infosec.pub
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        8 months ago

        Ya, I’m not walking up to an elephant either.

        My aunt owns a herd of Hyland cows (which have huge horns) and they are not aggressive at all but can accidentally hurt you with them.

    • nesc@lemmy.cafe
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      8 months ago

      Herbivores that have tusks or antlers rarely aren’t dangerous to humans (even domesticated like deers or cows), big herbivores even more so. Elphants are the animals that often kill other big animals for fun with their big tusks, you can look up elephant kills rhino for example.

    • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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      8 months ago

      Tell that to people encountering Moose.

      People are scared of bears, and fail to realize a Moose will merc you just for looking at it wrong.

      And once it has decided that, it doesn’t stop until you stop.

      • dmtalon@infosec.pub
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        8 months ago

        My point was a response to the comment I replied to saying he didn’t understand why people would pet an elephant but not a lion or bear

        Of course literally all large wild animals are dangerous and I wasn’t disputing that one bit!