This is the terrifying moment a wild elephant wandered into a home in southern Thailand.

CCTV footage shows residents fleeing into their house as the jumbo approached their property in Surat Thani province on January 13 evening. The animal later returned to the forest.

Homeowner Ausanee Wankaew said a wild elephant herd has been roaming the area for more than 10 days.

She said: 'We've already notified the authorities for help. Many of us are afraid to venture into the plantation to tap rubber because we are scared of being attacked.'

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.

Though the creatures are usually harmless, there have been several fatal elephant attacks in recent weeks.

On January 3, Spanish tourist Blanca Ojanguren Garcia, 22, was struck by an elephant she was bathing at the Koh Yao Elephant Care centre in Phang Nga province. She reportedly slipped and accidentally grabbed its trunk, causing the animal to smash her against the rocky pool.

On December 15, farmer Thodsaporn Phiananukulbut, 45, was fishing at a canal when a bull emerged from the nearby sugarcane field and trampled him to death in Prachinburi province.