Caught on Video: Toledo Zoo Elephant Attacks Keeper

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From the AP, July 7th:

TOLEDO, Ohio — Doctors say a trainer attacked by an elephant at Ohio's Toledo Zoo suffered life-threatening lung injuries and is on a ventilator.

However, doctors at the University of Toledo Medical Center say they expect 53-year-old Don RedFox to recover fully from last week's encounter with an elephant named Louie.

LINK

Now, video of the attack has been released, and Columbus Zoo's head Pachyderm keeper Harry Peachey offered insight into the attack in an interview with Columbus' WBNS TV.

[The Interpreter]

And a more recent print article:

AP article here

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And a more recent print article:

AP article here

Thanks for the addition! I was trying to add a more recent story as well, but my browser kept crashing.

The Toledo handler is lucky that he survived. It's easy to take safety for granted from a spectator / visitor point of view, but these animals are incredibly mighty and can critically injure or kill a human without even realizing it. If you look into incidents from circuses and zoos, however, you'll see most of the time people are injured when they don't follow protocol. These animals are incredibly smart and know when something isn't "right."

[Guest rcfreak339]

Wow he is VERY lucky, You just can't blame the animal here though and I don't think anyone is...These animals are still wild and if they feel threatened they will defend themselves. Hope the man recovers well.

[shark6495]

i thought i read yesterday that people who know elephants think this one was play charging, like they do in the wild. Except its not so much play when you have one playmate weighing in at 4000 pounds and the other one at 200....

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i thought i read yesterday that people who know elephants think this one was play charging, like they do in the wild. Except its not so much play when you have one playmate weighing in at 4000 pounds and the other one at 200....

It has been speculated, and makes sense. The elephant can't rationalize that his mass is multiple times greater than yours, to him it's just playing. If the elephant were trying to kill him, he would have.

If you ever get a chance to, visit a traveling circus that comes thru your town. Head to the lot while they're setting up and politely initiate conversation with the elephant handler. I've never gone to a show where I wasn't hospitably welcomed to the lot, and I've gotten some great insight from the men and women who work this these magnificent creatures. Each one has their own personality, their own temperament, and their own "buttons". If you're going to surround yourself with these animals, you'd better know them pretty well.

Sidebar, but somewhat related. Some of you may have seen the picture I posted here last Friday of myself holding a 2 month old Snow Leopard cub that the Columbus Zoo brought to the station for our noon newscast. The cub has been living in the home of the Zoo's main PR person, as it was rejected from its mother at another zoo (I didn't catch which one). The zoo is well known for it's surrogacy programs with abandoned/rejected babies.

Anyways, it was funny to see Suzi interact with the cub. As you may know, snow leopards have long, bushy tails. Mac's tail was bare skin at the tip, no fur for the last 4" or so. He had been sucking on it (like a pacifier) as a soothing method. He tried to do it a couple times while he was with us, and she pulled it out of his mouth and put her finger on the top of his nose. He made a little growl and snipped at her a bit, but each time she leaned her head into his and he cuddled it and purred. He knew that she was in charge, but he also had every opportunity to bite at her or paw at her. He didn't.

The people that work with these animals need to know them inside and out, and stick to their protocols exactly as they're written. They're written that way for a reason.

Here's the pic: