A villager from Battambang’s Samlot district is recovering after being gored by a gaur in a protected forest, an attack he fended off with a cleaver, his neighbour said.

Questions remain as to why Pream Sokorn was in Samlot forest late last week when the black gaur, which can weigh up to 1,000 kilograms, attacked him, piercing his thigh with its horn.

Neighbour Nhem Ly said Sokorn had entered the forest with “many dogs” to forage for medicinal plants for his wife, who had just given birth.

“He saw a gaur, which just attacked and injured him in the right thigh,” Ly said.

“He had a cleaver at the time and hacked the gaur in the nose.”

But Chan Socheat, an operational officer of the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, doubted Sokorn’s story, saying he was likely hunting or checking snare traps.

“It is a protected area and about 90 per cent of people there are using snares to catch wildlife illegally,” Socheat said, calling foraging for traditional medicines a convenient excuse.

Either way, Sokhorn walked out of the forest after the creature fled before being taken to Palin Provincial Hospital by relatives, Ly said.

In a video posted online, Sokhorn said the creature’s horn pierced right through his thigh.

“I do not know when I will recover and I can go home to work,” he said.