An American tourist recently had a dangerous and painful experience on vacation in Bali. While posing with an elephant for a photo, she got too close and the animal grabbed her arm into its mouth. Being strong and big as elephants are, it severely broke the woman’s arm, sending her to an emergency surgery and leaving her with a $10,000 hospital bill.
The incident occurred at Mason Elephant Park & Lodge in Bali. Beth Bogar visited the resort with her husband Les, and like most Western tourists, they wanted to take photos with one of the elephants. Beth claims that the elephant’s trainer was instructing her on how to pose with the animal, but blames them for doing their job wrong. She apparently got too close, when the elephant grabbed her arm and sucked it into its mouth.
“I couldn’t get my arm out, I could just hear cracking, and I started to panic,” Beth told WMUR. “I just feel like the guide was guiding me and he let my arm get too close to his mouth and I didn’t know how close too close was.”
After the terrifying experience, she was rushed to the hospital. She had an emergency surgery where the doctors put her arm together with plates and screws. The medical costs added up to $10,000, and Beth and her husband claim that the resort promised to cover half of it. They promised they would investigate the incident, but then they allegedly stopped responding to their calls and messages.
Like probably most of us, Beth says that she doesn’t blame the elephant. She admits that she knew the risks of getting close to such a mighty animal, but essentially blames its trainer for not paying closer attention. I don’t want to point fingers, but I can only say that it’s definitely not the animal’s fault. While they are often used as tourist attractions and thousands of people pose with them, I am sure of one thing: they don’t enjoy it nearly as much as you do.
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