It was a lesson Naiphum Promratee would never forget.

The 36-year-old’s life changed irrevocably when he visited a remote temple in rural Thailand to see a ‘buffalo bear’ living in a small enclosure with a community of monks.

Naiphum saw the powerful animal, weighing 250kg, stuck in a small space for feeding – and decided to taunt it by dangling bowls of rice overhead.

But a morning out in the humid valleys of Phetchabun suddenly took a turn for the worse when the bear stood on its hind legs and dragged him down.

In an instant, Naiphum was pulled back into the enclosure, knocked unconscious and mauled, flesh torn from his chest with ease.

Naiphum and four or five friends had ventured out to the Wat Luang Phor Lamai temple in rural Phetchabun province on August 2, 2017 to see the small sanctuary on site.

The monks keep around two dozen wild boars in a small enclosure and an eight-year-old bear – called Bing – in a cage, which they allowed guests to feed.

Bpae Permpoonsap, of the Khon Khao Koo Pai rescue service, said the boars were outside in a nearby field while the bear roamed around its enclosure.

Just a day before their visit, the head abbot at the Wat Luang Phor Lamai temple said some of the creatures were ‘hungry’ because they were not being given enough food.

The temple had appealed for donations from members of the public to feed the animal.

Bing, it transpired, was not among those reportedly suffering from malnourishment – weighing more than double the average American black bear.

Naiphum was said to have made the trip to the temple after hearing about the miserable conditions.

But he made a major error of judgement when he decided to suspend bowls of rice over the enclosure with a rope as if to taunt the animal.

Bears, as a rule, do not actively hunt human beings. But if hungry, or threatened, or familiarised enough to have lost their natural fear of people – they can.

Bing the bear stood on its hind legs, grabbed Naiphum’s arm and pulled him over a concrete barrier.

It then pinned Naiphum to the ground, knocked him out, and dragged him into the cage, tearing a lump from his ribs under his armpit with its teeth.

Horrifying footage showed spectators trying in vain to scare away the bear as he mauled Naiphum.

His friends hit the bear with poles and threw cold water at it, to no avail.

The enraged animal continued to bite and scratch Promratee for almost a minute before it started dragging him across the dusty enclosure.

One of Naiphum’s group ran into the enclosure and battered the bear in its cage with a pole while friends focused on a rescue.

Emergency services arrived just after 11am local time and rushed the bloodied man to hospital, where he is now recovering and able to talk.

Bpae Permpoonsap explained: ‘The bear was among other creatures being raised by monks at the temple.

‘The man had gone to the temple with four or five friends and he was toying with the bear.

‘It pulled him in and attacked him. We arrived and found the man injured seriously. He had been with his friends and wanted to feed the animals.

‘He was lucky to survive and he is in hospital now and able to talk.’

Dr. Kobchai Jirachanchai, Deputy Director of Phetchabun Hospital Medical Division, said Bing had inflicted deep wounds on Naiphum’s back and sides.

He said: ‘There were a lot of bite and nail wounds. In addition, there was a leak in the lung and expected to be a small pierce wound in the wound.

‘The patient also has acute renal failure. It is not dangerous. Recent symptoms have improve but we will watch closely for the next 48 hours.

‘The patient can talk and interact with visitors.’

Bing also made a recovery. Two days after the incident, he was shot with tranquiliser darts and taken to a nearby wildlife centre.

His keepers described Bing as generally well-mannered, but were concerned he had grown ‘very, very fat’ because visitors kept feeding him.

Bing was taken to the nearby Khao Khao Kho Wildlife Aquaculture Station – dubbed a ‘fat camp’ – and put on a diet.

Staff estimated Bing’s weight to be around 250kg – more than double the average weight of an American black bear, usually weighing in at 110kg.

Suteer Loy, head of the Khao Kho Wildlife Aquaculture Station, said the bear had become obese from being constantly fed by visitors to the temple and developed a ‘big appetite’.

He said: ‘We have adopted the bear and we want to try to change his behaviour.

‘We will supervise him closely. He is very, very fat and must now control his eating.’

Loy said it was not the bear’s fault for attacking the man and trying to eat him but it was just his ‘natural instinct’.

He added: ‘He does not have a fierce habit, he’s not aggressive, so it is not a problem to care for him.

‘But he has an eating problem that we need to correct. He is greedy but he is friendly with other bears. We’re confident we can rehabilitate him.’

A spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) told MailOnline: ‘If you taunt a hungry bear, you’re likely to get hurt.

‘Bears are powerful predators who, in the wild, spend most of their time foraging and exploring home ranges that may cover thousands of miles – and smart people respect them enough to leave them alone.

‘They suffer immensely when they’re trapped in barren concrete pits, denied everything that’s natural and important to them and left with nothing to do but pace back and forth and beg for food, often slowly going out of their minds with frustration.

‘While this man got away with his life, bears around the world will continue to live and die in misery as long as humans still incarcerate animals in the name of entertainment.’