Once on the brink of extinction, elephant numbers have now rebounded and that is creating problems in Thailand with increased frequency of encounters with humans.
Elephants increased from an estimated 3,000 in 2018 to more than 4,400 in March 2023, according to the latest survey.
But the expansion in numbers has also resulted in more human deaths.
In the same period, 137 people were killed by elephants across Thailand. The Department of National Parks said 12 people have already been killed by elephants this year.
In the eastern provinces, like Prachinburi, the elephant population is growing at a rate of about 8 per cent per year.
Phadet Laithong, director of the Wildlife Conservation Office of the Department of National Parks, said elephants were increasingly venturing outside of conservation areas and into villages and farms.
“So we must do everything to improve the ecosystem to attract wild elephants to stay inside the forest,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“Wild elephants are the same as other living animals … They live with instinct. Where there is food, they will go there, especially the food they like.”
The food these enormous animals like is exactly the kind of crops farmed in the eastern forest zone – sugar cane, jackfruit and papaya.
“They like it more that the grass, vines and wood inside the forest,” he said.
Phadet said one possible explanation for the elephants’ movements into surrounding farmland was the lack of water sources, so “they keep walking” until they find it.
“Once they reached outside the conservation forest, they found agriculture crops, water and small bushes for hiding from danger,” he said.
“When there are three complete elements they need, they learn how to live in that area and explore all around it.”
In early December, a herd of more than 130 elephants wrought havoc on a village in Prachinburi, with farmers estimating the damage to their crops at about 10 million baht ($425,000).
Sunthorn Komkai, a local cane farmer, had crops that were damaged during the rampage and said he was angry at the government for failing to do more.
He was also still reeling from the death of his relative, Tang, who was killed on his property.
