Horrifying footage shows how an elephant was tied up and beaten with bamboo spears as punishment for bad behaviour.

The bull with incredible tusks glistening in the midday sun was one of an estimated 3,000 elephants in captivity across Thailand.

However, the owners were unable to control its behaviour so they used a brutal method of 'breaking' the bull to kill its spirit to make it less aggressive.

Video taken in Surin, northeast Thailand, shows six men armed with knives on their wast and holding 15ft long bamboo spears attacking the elephant while it was tied up.

Each time the bull tried to break free, they stabbed, prodded and yelled at the animal.

Bizarrely, the owners saw no problem with the treatment of the creature, which they claimed had 'fallen into madness' and 'people couldn't control it'.

In the following days, it was put back to work in Buddhist religious festivals slavered in gaudy robes.

A member of the family who owns the elephant refused to comment on the treatment when contacted.

Thailand has an estimated 2,000 Asian elephants living in the wild - down from 100,000 a century ago - and around 3,000 in captivity owned privately.

Many are used for Buddhist ceremonies and festivals, with many of the country's inhabitants proudly defending their culture and history of using elephants, including in tribal wars from the 9th century until World War 2.

Captive elephants experience similarly brutal treatment in the tourism industry, with holidaymakers paying to ride the beasts.

Conservationist Jinwimon Mahasup, who follows wild elephants in sprawling national woodland across the country, said wild elephants do not behave like the animal seen in the video.

She said: 'Domestic elephants are chained and imprisoned, which makes them go crazy. They become agitated and the only way the owners know how to respond is with more violence.

'The people are attacking the elephant to try and control it.

'With independent wild elephants, there is no such behaviour. Man is the destroyer, raising elephants for their own profit.

'We do not like these people because they exploit elephants for their own benefit. Sadly, most of the people who raise elephants in captivity are those taking advantage of them.'

One of the most well-known elephant conservationists Saengduean Chailert, or Lek, runs a sanctuary in Chiang Mai in the north of the country.

She has recently banned visitors from bathing, feeding and touching the elephants - leading to the number of tourists visiting her Elephant Nature Park falling by half.

Tour operators told her that they could no longer send holidaymakers 'because everyone 'wants to touch and hug the elephants, they want to put their hands on them'.

Saengduean is now encouraging other venues at popular tourist destinations such as Phuket and Koh Samui to ban people from contact with the creatures.

Animal rights groups such as World Animal Protection (WAP) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have supported the changes. PETA has also called for laws banning the use of elephants in the tourism and entertainment industry.

Vice President Jason Baker said: 'Sadly, history has shown us that we can't rely on governments to protect animals, especially in countries like Thailand, where animal welfare laws are weak.'

BBC investigators also found that state intervention in animal welfare was inadequate.

'Regulation of domestic elephants is a muddle, divided between three ministries which do not co-ordinate with each other,' the British state broadcaster reported.