A black bear kept at a temple in Phrae province severely mauled the hand and arm of a visitor foolishly feeding it a banana on Monday.
The beer also clawed the flesh off the right arm of Prateep Saisakul, 69, and officials said later that part of it would have to be amputated.
The unfortunate man, from Mae Mo district of Lampang, was attending a novice ordination ceremony at Wat Srikhirintraram in Den Chai district.
Den Chai district chief Chaloemwut Rakhatiwong quickly ordered a ban on visitors feeding the bear, and local wildlife officials were arranging for its transfer to a zoo.
Phra Khru Banpote Chaisophol, abbot of the temple, said that a person had donated two baby black bears nine years ago and one of them later died. He had asked the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation to accept the remaining bear, but received no response. The bear had slightly injured several other people in the past, the abbot said.
Praphan Ngammo, the temple's 65-year-old keeper of the bear, said the unlucky visitor put his hand into the pen when offering the animal a banana. The animal reacted by clawing his arm, chomping the banana from the man's hand and tearing the flesh away with it.
She and other people rushed to help, pulling the man away from the pen - and saw the bare bones of his arm and hand, she said.