When 27 year old engineer Tor Bowling quit his job as an engineer to look for a new, more exciting way of life, he no doubt didn’t expect he would soon be faced with an elephant charging towards him. The Thai engineer was faced with this life threatening situation on Feb 28 2014 as he hiked along a dirt track at a Thai nature reserve on his return from viewing a nearby dinosaur footprint.
A video of Bowling’s encounter with the charging elephant, one of over 100 cared for at the Phu Luang Elephant’s Rehabilitation Project, has since gone viral after the incident was uploaded to the Internet. The short video features Bowling standing still and raising his camera to take a picture as the huge elephant charges towards him, Bowling appears to ignore the urge to flee and holds his position in the line of the charging elephant.
As the animal moves closer, Bowling simply raises his hand to ask the elephant to stop, amazingly, the elephant does stop, turns and simply walks away from the Thai engineer, leaving him untouched and unharmed.
Faced with the huge Asian Elephant, which can grow to 10 feet in height and weigh more than five tons, Bowling claims his positive attitude towards life protected him from the marauding creature. He stated that the new outlook on life that began after quitting his engineering job sees him smile in the face of possibly unhappy situations. Bowling said his positive attitude allows him to view the encounter with the elephant as one he is lucky to have had the chance to be part of.