HELEN COSTIGAN
I VISITED Nong Nooch Elephant Village and Tropical Gardens in April 2000 with my father and sister Andrea, while on holiday in Thailand.
At the time, we were unaware of the mistreatment and the “breaking” of elephants to make them perform for human entertainment.
The show started in a theatre with Thai dancing, followed by elephants parading with Thai armour and their trainers (known as mahouts) sword fighting on the elephants’ backs.
Visitors were then taken into a coral arena where elephants performed tricks including football, balancing, bicycle riding and running around the arena with the mahouts on their backs or tusks.
As we watched the show, one of the elephants approached us and as the mahout jumped from the elephant’s tusks onto his back, he was thrown to the floor.
The elephant became enraged and charged straight at Andrea and I.
Andrea was thrown back from her seat on a wooden bench by the elephant’s trunk, while I was gored by the elephant’s tusk in my abdomen.
The elephant then repeatedly attacked and gored Andrea’s legs and side.
My father was thrown to the ground during the attack.
He then threw himself between Andrea and the attacking elephant. He pushed on the elephant’s trunk and the creature eventually moved away.
We were taken to hospital in Pattaya. My father had his leg broken in three places.
I underwent surgery and had my bladder and bowels repaired and an ovary and fallopian tube removed.
Andrea, who was only 20 years old and training to be a nurse, underwent an extensive operation to try to stop internal bleeding.
She had received 16 pints of blood before her body went into shock and her pelvis snapped in two. She died in theatre.