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Hua Hin land owner charged after wild elephants killed by electrified fence

PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN — The owner of a meditation centre in Hua Hin district where an electrified fence was erected that killed three wild elephants last week has been charged with encroaching on state land.

The bodies of the three elephants killed last week have been moved to the Khao Hoob Tao forest protection unit in the Kaeng Krachan National Park for autopsy. Photo: The Bangkok Post

The bodies of the three elephants killed last week have been moved to the Khao Hoob Tao forest protection unit in the Kaeng Krachan National Park for autopsy. Photo: The Bangkok Post

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PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN — The owner of a meditation centre in Hua Hin district where an electrified fence was erected that killed three wild elephants last week has been charged with encroaching on state land.

Burapha Padhungthai, 56, owner of the Asom Burapa meditation centre in tambon Huai Sat Yai, reported to police colonel Bancha Panpradub, deputy chief of the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Division, yesterday (July 19) to acknowledge the charge.

An investigation had found the centre was built on royal project land that was allocated to poor farmers and prohibited from being sold according to a cabinet resolution 38 years ago. Burapha promised to knock down the buildings.

The centre covers 83 rai (132,800 square metres) of land, 53 rai of which encroached on the state land under the supervision of Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Office of Social Development and Human Security.

After being questioned for three hours, Burapha admitted the encroachment but said his family purchased plots from villagers 10 years ago without knowing some were part of a royal project and could not change hands.

He said he had paid land tax to Huai Sat Yai Tambon Administration Organisation every year but officials had never told him the land could not be sold.

Burapha said he felt sorry for the three elephants killed by an electric fence set up by a gardener at the meditation centre to keep wild animals away from the premises.

He said he fronted at the police office to prove his innocence and would demolish all buildings on the property before returning it to authorities.

Police and concerned officials will ask farmers in the area to stop erecting low-level electrified fences on their property to scare away wild animals and tell them to resort to other harmless methods to prevent a repeat of last week’s incident.

They will also examine whether any more state land in the area has been sold. THE BANGKOK POST

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