Authorities in the Cantabrian region of northern Spain are investigating how an elephant killed a worker at a local zoo
MADRID – Officials 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, several hours after an elephant hit him with the trunk while he cleaned the enclosure in the Cabárceno Natural Park, near Santander.
The coup threw Gutiérrez back and he hit his head on the pen bars, officials said.
Gutiérrez has been working with elephants at the zoo for almost 20 years, said local tourism chief Javier López Marcano in a statement on the regional government website.
The elephant that hit him had a foot infection and is probably pregnant, Marcano said. It weighs more than 4 metric tons (4.4 tons).
The zoo and regional authorities could not be reached immediately on Friday.
The police and CANTUR, the regional tourism organization that manages Cabárceno, are investigating the attack.