A 25-year-old man was arrested on Friday after police said he and his 2-year-old daughter were able to “get on well” at the elephant show at the San Diego Zoo.
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According to FOX 5 San Diego, zoo officials said that visitors had bypassed several barriers and “purposefully and illegally invaded” a habitat that includes the zoo’s Asian and African elephants. At least one of the elephants spotted the people and advanced on them, according to the San Diego Police Department.
The incident was reported to authorities around 4:20 pm. “The security at the San Diego Zoo responded promptly to the incident, but the guests had already left the habitat,” zoo officials said in a press release.
According to the police, the man “wanted to take a picture with the African elephant” and climbed at least two barriers to enter the enclosure. The elephant noticed the intruders, “looked a little upset” and started moving towards them, said a sergeant.
Witnesses told FOX 5 that they could not believe what they were seeing.
“You hear this woman screaming, ‘Jose, stop. Jose, stop,'” said witness Lori Ortale. “And he jumps over the fence and then crosses the elephant enclosure, and he’s with his little girl who, I don’t know, must have been under two years old.”
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San Diego County Jail records confirm the man’s identity as Jose Manuel Navarrete.
“We told him to leave and he turned and saw, luckily, just in time,” said another witness, Jake Ortale. “He runs, throws the baby through the gate and is seconds away from hitting him. He jumps over the gate, falls to the ground and then roars. … The baby starts to cry and people just get mad at this guy.”
Navarrete, his daughter and the elephants were unharmed in the incident, police and zoo officials said. Police added that Navarrete’s daughter went home with her mother after her arrest. Law enforcement officials are investigating whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the incident.
Navarrete, who faces charges of cruelty to children and may face other consequences for entering the compound, is being held on $ 100,000 bond. He is due to be sued on March 30.
The Associated Press contributed to this report