Orn-uma Leksathan and her husband Narongsak visited Lae Paniad Elephant Kraal in Ayutthaya province last Saturday. Orn-uma was feeding a 27-year-old bull elephant called Plai Big when it suddenly attacked her.
We know little about what happened, or why the elephant attacked her. According to Orn-uma's husband, who was seriously injured trying to save her, the woman may have patted the elephant's trunk as she was offering it food.
We do know the attack occurred when the elephant's mahout was not with the animal, and no one else could bring the beast under control when his mood abruptly changed.
Plai Big has paid a price. He has had the ends of his tusks sawn off, and he is to be chained for the rest of his life _ the usual practice for elephants once they kill someone.
The cutting of the elephant's tusks has been pounced on by the media as a rite aimed at curbing the beast's wildness and arrogance.
Some link the ritual to superstitious belief _ freeing the spirit of the deceased from the animal. Yet it is regarded by elephant keepers in other part of Thailand as nonsense.
But before this case fades from public attention, as public safety issues do, this deadly attack should serve as a wake-up call about the safety standards in the kraals and entertainment parks with animal shows.
Are there signs warning tourists of the possible dangers? Is access to the animals sufficiently restricted?
As kraals and entertainment parks are major tourist attractions for Thailand, serving local as well as foreign visitors, we should take the Plai Big tragedy seriously and do something to prevent such an incident from happening again.
I have to admit that I rarely visit zoos _ in Thailand or abroad _ or any kind of entertainment park with animal shows.
The reason is simple _ while most people think the performers in these shows are cute and fun, I feel sorry for them. To me, it's simple animal cruelty.
Of course, one may argue that elephants "employed" in the tourism industry are luckier that those in the forestry sector where they are forced to work in bad conditions.
To begin with, these poor animals have to go through different levels of torture in the training process before they can give a "playful" performance or act "cute". And the repetitive nature of the shows, where animals are forced to do things against their nature, day in and day out, is horrible.
And to cage animals, no matter how big their "house" may be, is not right.
And seriously, I have a question about welfare standards for these poor creatures, especially when they are at work.
This question came to mind during a visit to an entertainment park just outside Bangkok (it so happened that I was playing a good, but reluctant host to my cousins and their young kids who wanted to see some animal performances).
Everybody had fun and loved the shows, especially those given by the elephants who obediently followed their mahouts' orders. They kicked a ball, engaged in a tug-of-war, sat on tiny stools, danced and acted "cute".
No one in the audience minded the scorching summer sun. At the end of each show, the audience was asked to buy food for the elephants.
I noticed the elephants were very tired, and clearly thirsty. They turned down dried grass but readily accepted fresh sugar cane that could quench their thirst a little. Unfortunately there was very little sugar cane or fresh fruit. They didn't have any drinking water and looked visibly distressed.
I am not convinced any standards exist that are required to be followed when it comes to animal welfare at this kind of entertainment venue. And what about public safety? There are no fences between the tourists and the animals.
Fortunately, the show drew to a close before any of the elephants went berserk. In such conditions an angry animal could have done anything, maybe even precipitating another tragic end to a family outing.
Ploenpote Atthakor is Deputy Editorial Pages Editor, Bangkok Post.