A "panic-stricken" elephant killed a Spanish woman while she was bathing the animal at an elephant centre in Thailand, local police said.

Blanca Ojanguren Garc?a, 22, was washing the elephant at the Koh Yao Elephant Care Centre last Friday when she was gored to death by the animal.

Experts told Spanish language newspaper Clar?n that the elephant could have been stressed by having to interact with tourists outside its natural habitat.

Garc?a, who was a law and international relations student at Spain's University of Navarra, was living in Taiwan as part of a student exchange programme.

She was visiting Thailand with her boyfriend, who witnessed the attack.

Spain's foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, said the Spanish consulate in Bangkok was assisting Garc?a's family.

BBC News has contacted the elephant care centre for comment.

Bathing elephants is a popular activity among tourists in Thailand, which is home to more than 4,000 wild elephants and has a similar number kept in captivity, according to the Department of National Parks.

The Koh Yao centre offers "elephant care" packages which let tourists make food for and feed the animals, as well as shower and walk with them. These packages cost between 1,900 baht ($55; ?44) and 2,900 baht.

Animal activists have previously criticised elephant bathing activities, noting that they disrupt natural grooming behaviours and expose the animals to unnecessary stress and potential injury.

World Animal Protection, an international charity, has for years urged countries including Thailand to stop breeding elephants in captivity.

More than six in 10 elephants used for tourism in Asia are living in "severely inadequate" conditions, the charity said.

"These intelligent and socially intricate animals, with a capacity for complex thoughts and emotions, endure profound suffering in captivity, as their natural social structures cannot be replicated artificially," the charity said. (BBC)

?PHOTO: Bathing elephants is a popular activity among tourists in Thailand, but activists have criticised it as unethical. PHOTO: Getty Images.

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