This is the moment a hungry wild elephant ransacked a soldier's kitchen to search for food.

Video shows the jumbo tearing through the kitchen made of wood and iron sheets at the ai Tub Tun-Huai Samran Wildlife Sanctuary in Surin, Thailand, on October 4.

It rifled through containers and emerged holding what appeared to be a sack of rice. It used its trunk to scoop the grain into its mouth before walking away into the forest.

Sanctuary staff warned residents in the area, of the danger.

They said: 'People living near the forest in the Phanom Dong Rak District are warned to be careful of wild animals such as large elephants destroying things. If you see any, please notify wildlife officers to take care of them immediately.'

Thailand has up to 3,500 elephants in the wild. The population has been increasing in recent years, but it is still a fraction of the estimated 300,000 wild elephants that lived in the country 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.