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Elephant kills Spanish zoo keeper with one strike from trunk
A zoo worker in Spain died when an elephant hit him with her trunk, throwing him against the bars of her enclosure, local officials confirmed.
Joaquin Gutierrez Arnaiz, aged 44, was hit by a 4,000-kilogram (4.4-ton) female African elephant in Cabarceno Natural Park in Cantabria, northern Spain, on Wednesday.
Guttierez Arnaiz was rushed to the Marques de Valdecilla University Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
At the time of the accident, staff were cleaning the elephants’ compound.
Local police, the Civil Guard and the zoo are investigating the incident.
Francisco Javier Lopez Marcano, Cantabria’s Tourism Minister, said in a statement to Spanish media that the elephant that struck Guttierez Arnaiz had a foot infection and was probably pregnant.
Zookeeper in Spain dies after elephant smashes him with her trunk
The zookeeper was in the intermediate security corridor that elephants use when entering and exiting their stables.
February 25, 2021 10:30 GMT
A Spanish zookeeper died after an elephant, who was protecting her calf, hit him with her trunk yesterday morning. The force of the blow caused the zookeeper s head to get smashed against the iron bars of the pen. Colleagues rushed the victim to the hospital but he succumbed to his injuries three hours after the incident.
The zookeeper, 44-year-old Joaquin Gutierrez Arnaiz, has worked in the facility since 2002. Francisco Javier Lopez Marcano, a regional tourism and industry councilor, told The Sun that Gutierrez is one of the facility s veteran elephant keepers. He expressed shock at the incident, adding that the young and popular keeper s sudden demise caused great pain to his family and colleagues. He was a great lover of elephants and his work, Lopez said.