Elephant subdued after terrorizing Cambodian village

Dec 16, 2010, 4:54 GMT

Phnom Penh - An elephant that killed its owner last week and then terrorized residents of a village in southern Cambodia has been subdued, local media reported Thursday.

The domesticated elephant named Sambo fled into a bamboo forest at Mon village in Kampong Speu province after stomping its owner to death, the Phnom Penh Post said. It then trampled farmland and chased local residents who responded by assaulting the pachyderm with sticks, knives and fireworks.

With the help of the Cambodian Forestry Administration, non-governmental organizations and three elephant trainers, Sambo was shot with tranquilizer darts Wednesday and subdued.

Villagers said the elephant had killed at least three people in the past three years and had become markedly more aggressive since escaping into the forest last week.

'This is an insane situation,' Jack Highwood, the head of an elephant sanctuary in Mondulkiri province, told the Post earlier this week. 'There are 300 or more villagers scattered around the elephant in all directions, and the elephant is actively hunting them.'

Highwood said it was unclear what the best solution would be for the elephant's future.

'A week ago or a time closer to the sad event of the elephant's killing of his [owner], we could have possibly taken it into our sanctuary, but now it knows how to chase and kill people, and it is a danger to humans and other elephants,' he said.

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