Elderly Elephant Dies Of Heart Attack After Carrying Tourist

Elderly Elephant Dies Of Heart Attack After Carrying Tourist

Heart-breaking! An elephant made its last trip after it took tourists on a 40minutes ride to a shrine as it had been trained to do. Sambo was trained to give smooth rides to  visitors on her back at Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat since 2001 when she started working for the Angkor Elephant Company.

The elephant who was thought to be aged between 40 and 45, fell to the ground near Bakheng Mountain in the archaeological park and didn't get back up.

Her death has given birth to a campaign to stop the practice by animal rights activists. Oan Kiri, manager of the Angkor Elephant Company, said Sambo’s death was a very sad news "After our veterinarian checked... we concluded that she died of heart attack due to high temperatures and lack of wind." Her collapse came after she had taken two trips from Bayon Temple to Bakheng which took about 40 minutes on temperatures of around 40C”.

A Facebook post showing photos of Sambo on the ground has been shared over 8,000 times. A change.org petition calling for the end of elephant riding in Angkor went online shortly thereafter and has garnered more than 10,000 signatures.