Aussie woman's viral video saves Thai baby elephant

An Australian woman on holiday in Thailand was shocked when a worker at an elephant park threatened a baby elephant calf with a punch to the head.

The young male worker then grabbed the elephant by the ear, causing it to scream out in pain.

Tourists feeding the elephant apples were left shocked as the worker then smiled and clearly took pleasure in abusing the animal.

The incident was captured on video last week by Gold Coast woman Charley Costin who uploaded it to Facebook.

"I was in absolute disgust. I stopped filming and continued to question him and tell this little insignificant bully of a boy to stop," she said in the post.

A few days later the video has more than 500,000 views and Ms Costin said animal rights groups had began to take action against the Damnoen Saduak Elephant Village.

"I have goosebumps of happiness. Elephant Freedom Fighters and animal rights have taken action and this little guy will hopefully be making his way to a sanctuary as well as the abuser being fired!" she wrote on Monday.