03-06-2025
Watch: Elephant searching for food gets stuck in supermarket
An elephant wandered into a supermarket in Thailand and helped itself to eggs and rice cakes before getting stuck in an aisle as it tried to plot an escape.
The four-ton male entered the store in the northeastern city of Nakhon Ratchasima on Monday afternoon and spent 10 minutes searching for food.
CCTV footage captured it tucking into rice cakes and chicken eggs – but after a short while, the 25-year-old bull, named Plai Biang Lek, became wedged against the ceiling.
Fortunately, shopkeeper Khamploy Gakaew was able to usher the uninvited guest back onto the road outside.
Remarkably, the elephant only caused around 1,000 baht (£22.70) in damage, though it did leave without paying.
The shopkeeper said: 'This was the first time an elephant had visited the store. I hope he doesn't come back. I was worried about the damage he could cause.
'He ate sweet, crispy rice cakes and chicken eggs before walking out. I was surprised to see him eating sweet food, as elephants usually search for something salty.
'We see elephants occasionally, and they will bother street food vendors for food. But this was unusual.'
Wildlife rangers later drove the elephant back into woodland away from danger and said they were monitoring the area to prevent it from returning.
Elephants are known for their voracious appetite. The World Wildlife Federation found they need to eat up to 150kg of food per day – the equivalent of 375 tins of baked beans.
Conservationists in Thailand say that wild elephants – up to 3,500 of them – have developed a taste for human food and prefer to rummage through homes and vehicles for snacks, instead of the bland leaves they find in the forest.
