Panic stricken elephant kills tourist in Thailand

[Catherine]

Tourists in Thailand are able to buy elephant care packages. That means the tourist feeds and bathes with the elephant. This is stressful for the elephants.
Sadly a 22 year old Spanish tourist was killed by the elephant she was bathing. The elephant panicked. 
Animal activists have been criticizing the practice for years. It goes against the elephant's natural behavior.
Even keeping and breeding elephants in captivity has been criticized. More the 6 in 10 elephants living in captivity are not  living in good conditions.


https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9wlzz9179do

This was an accident waiting to happen. Elephants kept in poor conditions, forced to endure things they don't want to do, are likely to respond badly at some point in time.
The tourist who was killed wanted an experience with the elephants, but she was not trained in animal care. Caring about animals and caring for animals are two different things. An experienced elephant keeper would recognize  the signs of stress in an elephant. An experienced keeper would not be invading the elephants personal space the way a tourist would. The whole elephant care package seems like a very dangerous idea that was eventually going to end in tragedy.
It is very sad for the young woman and her family, but it was not a good choice of vacation activities. The sooner they are able to end such care packages, the better.