Expert warns Americans about elephant tourism after young student is killed in Thailand: 'Recipe for disaster'
An expert on Asian elephants is sounding the alarm about "elephant sanctuaries" after a tourist was killed while visiting one in Thailand.
Blanca Ojanguren García, 22, a law student at the University of Navarra, died last week. She was bathing an elephant at Koh Yao Elephant Care when the 50-year-old animal killed her with its trunk, according to Spanish media.
Around 18 people were at the sanctuary at the time, including the victim's boyfriend, the company told Spanish newspaper El Mundo. No other visitors were injured, and details about the incident, such as how the animals were treated, are still unknown.
But the incident raises questions about how safe elephant sanctuaries, which lure tourists with promises of getting up close with the animals, really are.
Duncan McNair, the CEO of London-based charity Save the Asian Elephants, spoke with Fox News Digital about the tragedy and warned that tourists should think twice before visiting one.
"'Sanctuary,' a bit like ‘havens’ and ‘orphanages,’ is a very nasty term that is usually devoid of meaning or certainly devoid of accuracy," McNair said. "The vast majority of sanctuaries in Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Vietnam, and Cambodia … are not ethical. They are brutal, and they do it all for money."
It is still unknown why the elephant struck García, or how the sanctuary's handlers treated the creature before the killing. But McNair said while it's possible the elephant was unaware of its strength, it was more likely lashing out against the conditions it was kept in.
"[The trunk] is an extraordinarily diverse and durable organ that is multipurpose," McNair explained. "An elephant doesn't randomly lash around or swing around with its trunk. … It's wholly unlikely that this was an accident.
"So why did it happen? Well, of course, because the elephant, which was like pretty much all elephants in captivity for commercial exploitation, was being kept in a completely unnatural state, in extreme stress."
He emphasized that, though elephants are gentle and intelligent animals, their "calmness" does not mean they are tamed. And they can snap at any threat or stressor they perceive, even a well-meaning tourist.
"Elephants are wild animals. … They are kept in captivity, having been brutalized into submission," McNair explained. "But that doesn't mean they're tamed. It simply means that they're terrified for spans of time.
"If they see their chance, or if they're overstressed, they will attack and kill."
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The animal rights advocate noted that while elephants are "wondrous and complex" herbivores, they will still respond aggressively when they are threatened.
"They react, sometimes extremely, when something flashes across their corner of vision," McNair explained. "And, so, to put an elephant that's been abused in captivity probably for decades, in exact proximity with a young woman who's probably got very little experience of elephants and no proper training, is an absolute recipe for disaster."
McNair, who also works as a corporate lawyer, also noted that the mistreatment of elephants begins before the animals step foot into sanctuaries. Elephants are often snatched by poachers who commit atrocities ranging from killing mothers in front of their children to repeatedly stabbing baby elephants into submission.
"With elephants who have been brutalized and abused for use in tourism, they are extremely dangerous. … Not only are these activities so catastrophic for the elephants, they're deadly dangerous for humans," he said.
Through Save the Asian Elephants, McNair has advocated for legislation to stop abusive practices against the animals, such as the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act that passed in the British Parliament in 2023. This work also recently led to his being named a Legal Hero of the Year 2024 by the Law Society of England and Wales.
Now, he and other animal advocates are scrutinizing tourism companies that encourage unethical treatment of elephants. Some sanctuaries do treat elephants ethically, McNair said, and he advised that tourists do research before booking their trips for both their own safety and the safety of the elephants.
"[We want] to try to steer the market of animal tourism from brutal to ethical," McNair explained. "That's the real intention, not to close down travel companies, nothing like that. It's to help the animals and to help people who want to make money out of animal tourism. … That's fine, but be ethical about it."