Jeff Corwin Attacked By Elephant In Cambodia

Jeff Corwin got tossed by an elephant
in Cambodia, and injured his elbow.Jeff CorwinEmmy award-winning host and executive producer of two shows bearing his name on The Animal Planet, and a very funny and entertaining guy. and Anderson CooperEmmy award-winning television host and journalist working with CNN. were doing a wildlife series in Cambodia when an elephant grabbed Jeff's elbow and gave him quite a serious yank, causing some injury but, as Jeff notes here, not too terrible.

Domesticated elephants are amazingly gentle creatures, and in comparison with their size and strength and regular interaction with humans, accidents involving them are incredibly rare. To me, based on the video from CNN.com (seen below and at the link above) it looks like the elephant was either thinking that Jeff's elbow was something to eat and was trying to get it in his mouth, or more likely the elephant was just being playful or bitchy for some reason.

The plight of elephants and their mahoutsThe drivers and keepers of elephants. in southeast Asia is dire indeed. Elephants used to be present at every logging area and construction site in Thailand. Unfortunately logging is no longer done in Thailand due to deforestation, and construction sites have found that the gasoline for a bulldozer is cheaper than the food for an elephant. Elephants are quite simply unemployed.

(It was popular for a while with tourists to have the Elephants walking through places in Pattaya like Walking Street and Soi 7, where for 20 baht (50 cents), you could buy a bag of vegetables to feed an elephant, but the city government stopped the practice for safety fears.)

Anyway, hopefully someday soon southeast Asia can find something to do with its unemployed domesticated elephants... and continue to keep the natural habitat of the wild elephants intact as well.

Here's the video from Headline News via YouTube: