Authorities in the northern Spanish region of Cantabria are investigating how an elephant killed a worker at a local zoo
MADRID – Authorities in the northern Spanish region of Cantabria are investigating how an elephant killed a worker at a local zoo.
The Cantabrian regional government says Joaquín Gutiérrez, 44, died in a hospital on Tuesday, hours after a female elephant hit him with his torso while he was cleaning the premises of the Cabárceno Natural Park near Santander.
The blow hit Gutiérrez back and hit his head on the pen bars, officials said.
Gutiérrez has been working with elephants at the zoo for nearly 20 years, local tourism chief Javier López Marcano said in a statement on the regional government’s website.
The elephant that hit him had a foot infection and is probably pregnant, Marcano said. It weighs more than 4 tons (4.4 tons).
Zoo and regional officials could not be reached immediately on Friday.
Police and CANTUR, the regional tourism organization that runs Cabárceno, are investigating the attack.