Elephant Fight

[howeird]

75-11-1-Elephants_004
Originally uploaded by how3ird.

Going through an old box of negatives, I found a nice neat stack of holders labeled by year and month, with notes on where they were taken. This is my favorite set of action photos from my Peace Corps years, taken at the Elephant Roundup in Surin, Thailand, November 1975. I was hanging around the back of the elephant holding area when two of them got into a fight, broke through the fence and landed on a van parked on the road. Spectators went running for cover, I just kept snapping pictures. Nobody was hurt (the van was empty) but the van was totaled.

Click on the photo to see the whole series.

Comments

[vasilatos]

I never heard of this, it seems so dangerous, were the elephants hurt? It looks awful. Remarkable pictures. Yikes!

[howeird]

This was a total accident. The elephant round-up at that time was a fairly small event, about 100 elephants came in from their forestry duties to parade around, give rides, play soccer and thrill the tourists at the local stadium. A couple of mahouts just let their bull elephants get too close, and they did what bull elephants do when their territory is infringed upon.

Now it's a huge event, 500+ elephants, thousands of actors, several sets of replica ancient costumes, plus the rides and soccer games. Much bigger stadium with lots of space, and much more organized. I didn't see any trouble at last year's event. Photos of that are here

[vasilatos]

Well thanks! I just love elephants, and do I ever get to see them around? Nooooo. So boy, you're just a super friend, buddy.