A hungry wild elephant smashed through a family's kitchen wall as they slept to steal rice.

The marauding jumbo head-butted the walls of the single-storey home in Bueng Kan, northeastern Thailand last Saturday (22/12) night.

With the concrete wall destroyed, he then reached into the kitchen with his large trunk and gauged on freshly harvested rice for an hour before leaving when he was full.

Shocked resident Monruedee Weruwana, 40, said: ''I was terrified the elephant would come in the house and trample us.''

Monruedee said she was sleeping with her family when her son heard a crash from outside their bedroom.

She thought that it was the sound of wind blowing their galvanized iron roof but it became louder so her husband had to go to check.

He went to the kitchen and was shocked to see an elephant trunk's poking through the damaged wall dipping into sacks of rice.

The family hid behind a wardrobe and waited for an hour before the loud noise stopped when the jumbo went back to the jungle, leaving the family kitchen in a mess.

Village chief Kraiwan Nonthibutr said rangers could not chase the jumbo away in case it sparked a stampede from the angry creature.

He said: "I heard the stomping during the night and saw the elephant approaching the family's house.

"I gathered people and tried to chase him away but he still continued to break the wall to grab the rice. I believed he was hungry as he only left after eating a large amount of rice from the kitchen.

"I have already contacted the National Park officer to come down to the village and estimate the cost of the damage to the family's home, which they said they will compensate them for."