A Tourist In Bali Had To Get Emergency Surgery After An Elephant ‘Sucked’ Her Arm

A woman’s Bali holiday has taken an interesting turn after her arm wound up in an elephant’s mouth. Yes, you read that right. Beth Bogar was posing for a photo next to an elephant at Mason Elephant Park & Lodge, Ubud’s only dedicated and certified elephant rescue park, when she found her arm “sucked” inside its gob. “He [the trainer] knew this elephant,” Beth told News 9

A picture from the resort’s Instagram page @elephantsbali

Kartick Satyanarayan Wildlife SOS Travel & Leisure the park’s website

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(a TV station in the US). “I just feel as though he was guiding me and he let my arm get too close to his mouth and I didn’t know how close too close was,” she continued. “I couldn’t get my arm out. I could just hear cracking and I just started to panic.” Beth was brought to the park’s front office to ice her arm but her injury worsened. Her arm began to swell and she was rushed to hospital an hour away, where she had to undergo emergency surgery. Beth told News 9 that “there are plates, there’s screws, and everything is put back together. But it’s gonna be a long road.” The medical expenses amounted to roughly $10,00 USD ($15,060 AUD) with the resort footing $4,800 USD ($7,103 AUD) of that bill. A representative of the park told News 9 that something like this has never happened in its 26-year history. They also said that the elephant involved “is a very placid and gentle soul that has been with our park for more than 20 years and has never shown any aggression towards guests.” Beth had reportedly been swimming with the elephant and riding on its back prior to the photo, which, after looking at the lodge’s Instagram page and website, appears to be something the lodge offers to guests. According to Mason Elephant Park’s website, it was created in response to the deforestation and poaching in Sumatra which was rapidly reducing the native elephant population. It’s home to 30 critically-endangered Sumatran elephants and the park has won an award for the ‘Best Luxury Eco Safari Lodge’. But does that make what’s going on here OK? , co-founder and CEO of , told  that there’s no such thing as an ethical elephant ride because of the way elephants’ bodies are built. “There are no elephant rides that are ethical,” she said. “All the elephants that have humans on their back experience stress and pain in their vertebrae. Elephants have evolved to have very strong shoulders and necks, but not for pressure directly on their spines.” On the other hand, claims, “when done ethically, rides are actually very beneficial for an elephant’s overall health and wellbeing” for things like digestion and circulation. I have a lot of questions.