Thieving elephant who targets tourists for their lunches

Would you argue if a five-ton bully wanted to make off with your lunch?

Gemunu the elephant is fast becoming notorious at his home in Yala National Park, Sri Lanka, for ambushing wide-eyed tourists and running of with their food.

A recent spate of thefts where he has used his trunk to search cars as they drive through the park have left visitors alarmed by his unruly behaviour.

Hey! Gemunu pushes over the driver of a car as he scours the interior of the vehicle for any snacks its passengers might be hiding

Mr Singh was just learning about Gemunu's thieving ways from his friend, Mevan Piyasena, when then the 22-year-old elephant ambushed their car.

'First Gemunu pushed our driver, Janaka, off his seat and then he poked his head inside the car looking for food,' he said

'He checked each one of us with his trunk and then poked his trunk all around our Landcruiser looking for food but we didn't have any.

'All that I could think of was to stay calm, keep away from his big tusks and keep the camera steady.

'After what seemed like hours, though it was just a few minutes, he moved on to the next car. We just got out of there as fast as we could.'