This, combined with a record of 14,000 animals being run over each year by vehicles using the 14.7-kilometre stretch - which cuts through the sanctuary where it overlaps the borders of Chachoengsao, Chon Buri, Rayong, Chanthaburi and Prachin Buri provinces - has prompted officers to propose shutting the road at night.

Sanctuary chief Yoo Senatham said that on the night of January 6, a group of nearly 20 elephants blocked a stretch of Route 3259, making it impassable for about 10 trucks that normally use the route to transport sugar cane and tapioca. The elephants then ate the crops and some also tried to capsize a truck to get access to the food, he said.

A 45-year-old truck driver, Daeng Thongdee, told officials that he had bought tapioca from Sa Kaew and was on the way to deliver it to a Chachoengsao market when he found his truck was the first in a line that faced the elephants' roadblock.

Fearing the elephants heading towards him, he retreated to the trucks behind him. He saw the elephants eating the tapioca from his truck, which was then left with a broken window, a dented body and a torn plastic cover. The elephants fled into roadside jungle.

The elephants' action stemmed from the fact that many passers-by often threw sugar cane and tapioca to them, Yoo said. This, combined with the fact that each year about 300,000 vehicles used the stretch of road, running over and killing some 14,000 animals, has prompted him to propose to Chachoengsao governor that the stretch - which cut across the wild animals' natural pathways - be closed from 9pm to 5am.

He said motorists could use other routes to reduce the animal road casualties. The death toll was particularly high at night, he said, and a sharp contrast to about 1,000 animals killed by hunters.