This is the moment a wild elephant ransacked a resident's kitchen while searching for dinner in Thailand.

The jumbo named Plai Biang Lek caused a commotion when it raided the restaurant in Nakhon Ratchasima province while the owners were still asleep.

Footage shows the creature making its way inside the narrow space and grabbing a wooden table with its trunk. Its movements caused pots and dishes to crash onto the floor, waking resident Yupha Sichomchuen, 60, on July 27.

Yupha called wildlife officials from the Khao Yai National Park 300 metres away, where the elephant is believed to have emerged.

A team was deployed to the residence and found the kitchen in disarray, with Plai Biang Lek still roaming the premises.

The pachyderm was persistent and refused to be driven away, only leaving when it was already late in the morning.

Yupha, who runs a restaurant serving Chinese dishes to university students, said that lately she had noticed many elephants frequently wandering from the national park and searching the area for food.

Her kitchen was slightly damaged in Plai Biang Lek's late night raid.

She said: 'I do not blame the wild elephant. It was understandable that the aroma of the food could have attracted it, especially since the area is close to the national park. I'm just grateful it didn't hurt me.'

As of 2023, there are an estimated 3,084-3,500 wild elephants in Thailand. The population has been increasing in recent years, but it is still a fraction of the estimated 300,000 wild elephants that lived in Thailand at the beginning of the 20th century. The main threats to wild elephants in Thailand are habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and conflict with humans.