It was a lesson Naiphum Promratee would never forget.
The 36-year-old’s life changed irrevocably when he visited a remote temple in rural Thailand and saw a ‘buffalo bear’ living in a small enclosure with a community of monks.
Naiphum saw the powerful animal, which weighed 250kg, trapped in a small space to eat – and decided to mock it by dangling bowls of rice above its head.
But one morning in the damp valleys of Phetchabun, things suddenly got worse when the bear got up on his hind legs and dragged him down.
In an instant, Naiphum was pulled back into the enclosure, beaten unconscious and mauled, the flesh torn from his chest with ease.
Naiphum’s visit to a Thai monastery took a turn for the worse when Bing attacked the bear
Naiphum was pulled down into the enclosure and mauled by the 250kg predator
As he lay bleeding, Naiphum’s group tried to scare the bear with a large metal pole
Naiphum is quickly helped from the scene after the group distracts Bing the bear
His friends tried to fend off the bear with a pole before diving in to save him
Naiphum was unable to get back up as the bear dragged him through the fence with ease
The victim drove away from the scene in August 2017
Naiphum and four or five friends had gone to Wat Luang Phor Lamai Temple in rural Phetchabun province on August 2, 2017, to see the small shrine on site.
The monks keep about twenty wild boars in a small space and an eight-year-old bear – named Bing – in a cage, which they were allowed to feed to the guests.
Bpae Permpoonsap, from the Khon Khao Koo Pai Rescue Service, said the boars were outside in a nearby field while the bear was roaming around its enclosure.
Just a day before their visit, the head abbot of Wat Luang Phor Lamai temple said some of the creatures were “hungry” because they were not getting enough food.
The temple had appealed for donations from the public to feed the animal.
Bing, it turned out, was not among those reportedly suffering from malnutrition; it weighed more than double the average American black bear.
Naiphum is said to have made the journey to the temple after hearing about the dire conditions.
But he made a major error of judgment when he decided to hang bowls of rice over the fence with a rope, as if to taunt the animal.
As a rule, bears do not actively hunt people. But if they are hungry, or threatened, or have become familiar enough to have lost their natural fear of humans, they can.
Bing the bear stood on his hind legs, grabbed Naiphum by the arm and pulled him over a concrete barrier.
Naiphum then pushed him to the ground, knocked him unconscious and dragged him into the cage, ripping out a lump from his ribs under his armpit with his teeth.
Naiphum’s friends tried to save him with various instruments and water, but to no avail
Naiphum was destroyed as his friends watched helplessly
Gruesome footage showed onlookers trying in vain to chase away the bear as it mauled Naiphum.
His friends beat the bear with sticks and threw cold water at it, but to no avail.
The enraged animal continued to bite and scratch Promratee for almost a minute before it began dragging him through the dusty enclosure.
A member of Naiphum’s group ran into the enclosure and beat the bear in its cage with a pole while friends focused on a rescue.
Emergency services arrived just after 11am local time and rushed the bloodied man to hospital, where he is now recovering and can talk.
Bpae Permpoonsap explained: ‘The bear was among the other creatures raised by monks in the temple.
‘The man had gone to the temple with four or five friends and was playing with the bear.
“It pulled him in and attacked him. We arrived and found the man seriously injured. He had been with his friends and wanted to feed the animals.
‘He was lucky to survive and is now in hospital and can talk.’
Dr. Kobchai Jirachanchai, deputy director of Phetchabun Hospital’s medical department, said Bing inflicted deep wounds on Naiphum’s back and sides.
He said: ‘There were a lot of bite and nail wounds. In addition, there was a leak in the lung and it was expected that there was a small puncture wound in the wound.
‘The patient also has acute renal failure. It’s not dangerous. Recent symptoms have improved, but we will monitor closely over the next 48 hours.
‘The patient can talk and communicate with visitors.’
One of Naiphum’s group ran into the enclosure and beat the bear in its cage with a pole
Gruesome footage showed onlookers trying in vain to chase away the bear as it attacked
Bing also recovered. Two days after the incident, he was shot with tranquilizer darts and taken to a nearby nature center.
His caretakers described Bing as generally well-behaved, but were concerned that he had become “very, very fat” because visitors kept feeding him.
Bing was taken to the nearby Khao Khao Kho Wildlife Aquaculture Station – dubbed a ‘fat camp’ – and put on a diet.
Staff estimated Bing’s weight at about 500 pounds (250 kg) – more than double the average weight of an American black bear, which usually weighs 250 pounds (110 kg).
Suteer Loy, head of the Khao Kho Wildlife Aquaculture Station, said the bear had become obese due to constant feeding by visitors to the temple and had developed a “great appetite”.
He said: ‘We have adopted the bear and we want to try to change its behaviour.
‘We will keep a close eye on him. He is very fat and now has to control his eating.’
Loy said it wasn’t the bear’s fault that it attacked the man and tried to eat him, but that it was just its “natural instinct.”
He added: ‘He doesn’t have a violent habit, he’s not aggressive, so it’s not a problem to look after him.
‘But he has an eating problem that we need to correct. He is greedy, but he is friendly to other bears. We are confident we can rehabilitate him.”
The monks at Phetchabun kept about twenty wild boars and a bear in the monastery
A spokesperson for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) told MailOnline: ‘If you taunt a hungry bear, there’s a good chance you’ll get hurt.
‘Bears are powerful predators that in the wild spend most of their time foraging and exploring habitats that can span thousands of miles – and smart people respect them enough to leave them alone.
‘They suffer immensely as they are trapped in bare concrete pits, denied everything that is natural and important to them and left with nothing to do but walk back and forth and beg for food, often slowly going mad with frustration.
“While this man got away with his life, bears around the world will continue to live and die in misery as long as people continue to cage animals in the name of entertainment.”