Shocking footage shows how elephants are forced to pull logs just weeks after a jumbo was found dead from exhaustion doing the same job.

The disturbing practice was reduced following a ban on illegal logging in 1989 but appears to have continued in remote regions. Elephants are seen being forced to pull logs in Phuket, southern Thailand, though it is not known if the logging is permitted, as some forms of deforestation remain legal.

Despite the clear suffering of the elephants, those involved are even posting the the videos on Chinese social media platform TikTok boasting of how they use the animals to do their work.

One of the owners said that the elephant was ‘not harmed' in the incident and was ‘happy to work' with the team clearing the trees. They said the owner had 'spent millions on his elephants.'

Asked if it was abusive to use the elephants for work, he said: 'People who are saying it is cruel, they just don't understand. The elephant loves to help us work.

'It's only ever foreigners that think it's cruel. They don't understand elephants or our culture.'

In one of the videos a jumbo was chained to the front of the vehicle which was stuck in thick mud following weeks of heavy rain. The tractor was pulling a trailer which was stacked with hundreds of logs cleared from the remote woodland area. Two workers holding large sticks used to prod the elephant were watching as it strained agonisingly to try and drag the heavy vehicle. Leaning forward, the helpless creature became visibly tired and its knees shook and bent forward as it tried in vain to move the tractor.

The footage emerged as a 65-year-old elephant working under similar conditions died in April after his caretaker fled and left him tied to a tree for days as officers raided the illegal trade in neighbouring Nakhon Si Thammarat province.

Animal rights group PETA said that elephants working in captivity like those in the video 'have been torn from their jungle homes to be sold like equipment'. The group says they are 'forced tp haul illegal logs or entertain tourists'.

Elephants were used widely in the logging industry throughout Thailand but commercial logging was banned in 1989. Many of the elephants were out of work and sent to zoos and other tourist attractions.