Hungry wild elephant raids grocery store for snacks in Thailand

A hungry wild elephant caused havoc in a grocery store in Thailand on Monday when he strolled in from a nearby national park and helped himself to some food off the shelf.

One volunteer park worker told the Associated Press wild elephants in the Khao Yai National Park area have been coming out of the woods to ransack people’s kitchens for many years, but this year he has started seeing them going into more random places to find food.

There were an estimated 4,000 wild elephants in Thailand in 2024, according to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. As farmers push into forests for agriculture, elephants have been forced to venture out of their shrinking habitats in search of food, leading to confrontations that can sometimes turn deadly.