Elephants ambush trucks, eat cargo

[IowaStatePhiPsi]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=341904

KHAO-ANG RUE-NI, Thailand Dec 18, 2004 — These pachyderms aren't just going after peanuts.

Elephants in a wildlife sanctuary in eastern Thailand are using their oversize bodies as road blocks, ambushing vehicles transporting sugar cane, tapioca and fruit, the sanctuary's chief says.

The estimated 200 elephants in the Khao-Ang Rue-Ni sanctuary turn desperate and wily in the dry season, when water and food supplies shrink. It's then that the animals stage their heists, Yuo Senatham said.

Conveniently enough for the elephants, the dry season is also when hundreds of trucks travel through their lands, laden with newly harvested tapioca and sugar cane.

According to Yuo, a herd leader usually emerges from the jungle at dusk to block the road. When a vehicle stops, other elephants move in for the feast.

Signs urging motorists not to feed the elephants don't seem to be doing the trick.