This is the scary moment a hungry wild elephant rummaged through the back of a passing pick-up truck to steal food.

The jumbo was seen approaching the vehicles as they passed through a road in Chachoengsao province, Thailand on Wednesday January 5.

Onlooker Janjira Tongloy said the beast stole a sack of rice from the back of her truck. She likened the elephant to a guard collecting fees at a toll gate.

The motorist added: ‘I couldn’t tell the elephant not to take the food. He was much bigger and more powerful than me, so I dind’t want to annoy him.

‘He was like a security guard collecting money from cars. I don’t mind, because it’s the elephant’s territory and it’s special to see one up so close.’

Thailand has an estimated 2,000 Asian elephants living in the wild but there is often conflict when they come into contact with humans on roads and in villages. A similar number of elephants are kept captive where they work in zoos and are hired out for religious festivals and weddings.

Staff from the country’s National Park – the sprawling area of protected woodland where wild elephants live – believe the animals have changed their behaviour in response to the food readily available from humans.

Plucking food from homes and cars is easier for them and they are often attracted by the smell and sight, conservation officer Supanya Chengsutha said.