Chilling new video shows the moment an elephant charged a 25-year-old man and his toddler at the San Diego Zoo — with the dad dropping his daughter during the harrowing attack.
Jose Navarrete hopped several barriers at the famed zoo on Friday to take a photo with his 2-year-old when the massive bull charged at the pair, footage posted by CBS News shows.
The San Diego Zoo, where a man entered an elephant enclosure with his child. Daniel Knighton/Getty Images“Jose, stop!” one eyewitness said she heard a woman yelling moments before the incident.
A father has been arrested on suspicion of child endangerment after he carried his 2-year-old daughter into the elephant habitat at the San Diego Zoo to take a photograph with the animals. CBS-8“These guys right away were saying, ‘That elephant is going to charge,'” witness Lori Ortale told the station. “And it did.”
The video shows Navarrete barely making it through the fence at the compound as the elephant closes in on the pair — and then dropping the girl, just inches from the charging animal’s tusks.
The man seen sneaking into the elephant enclosure. CBS-8“He runs, throws his baby through the gate and it’s seconds from hitting him,” said Jake Ortale, another witness. “He jumps through the gate, falls on the ground, and then it roared. The baby starts crying and people were just mad at this guy.”
The man seen next to the elephant, trying to snap a photo with it. CBS-8Zoo officials were also not amused by the dangerous prank, saying Navarrete “purposely and illegally trespassed” into the elephant compound.
The agitated elephant seen near the man. CBS-8He was charged with child endangerment and is being held on $100,000 bail pending a March 30 court appearance, CBS reported.
