Elephant on heat tramples keeper to death after being freed to take selfie with tourists

An elephant in a village in Cambodia has trampled its 47 year old keeper to death moments after being freed from its shackles so tourists could pose with it for selfies. Atork the 60-year-old elephant was in its mating season and as such didn’t care for human company so when the trainer, Choeung Team, 47, freed it, it ran off into the nearby forest in Pu Tang village, Mondulkiri province, north-eastern Cambodia.
Team went after the animal, but it attacked him, hitting him several time with its trunk before finally stomping on him. Locals who arrived the scene afterwards chased Stork away so they could take Team’s body to be buried.

Team kept Atork as a tourist attraction to show visitors what life in the village was like. Saroeun Naro, Team’s 37-year-old nephew, while mourning his uncle, said:

“I don’t know what the problem of Atork was. Maybe he needed a female elephant or he was angry with my uncle.”

Norng Chanthea, a local police officer, confirmed the death:

“The owner was killed by his elephant when it was in rut. Now it’s in the forest and no one can get close to it.”