A 25-year-old man was arrested Friday after police said he and his 2-year-old daughter made the elephant exhibit at the San Diego Zoo “well inside.”
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According to FOX 5 San Diego, zoo officials said the guests had bypassed several obstacles and “intentionally and illegally violated” in a habitat that includes the Asian and African elephants in the zoo. According to San Diego police, at least one of the elephants spotted the people and charged them.
The incident was reported to the authorities around 16:20. “The security of the San Diego Zoo responded immediately to the incident, but the guests have already left the habitat,” zoo officials said in a news release.
According to police, the man wanted to “take a picture with the African bull elephant” and climbed through at least two barriers to get into the fence. The elephant notices the intruders, ‘looks slightly upset’ and starts moving towards them, a sergeant said.
Witnesses told FOX 5 that they could not believe what they were seeing.
“You hear this woman shout, ‘Jose, stop. Jose, stop,'” witness Lori Ortale said. “And he jumps the fence and then he goes through the elephant shell, and he has his little girl with him who, I do not know, had to be under 2.”
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San Diego County jail records confirm the man’s identity as Jose Manuel Navarrete.
“We told him to go out and he turned around and luckily he saw it just in time,” said another witness, Jake Ortale. He ran, threw his baby through the gate and it was seconds after he hit him. He jumps through the gate, falls to the ground and then roars it. … The baby started crying and people were just mad at this man. ‘
Navarrete, his daughter and the elephants were all unharmed in the incident, police and zoo officials said. Police added that Navarrete’s daughter went home with her mother after his arrest. Officers are investigating whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the incident.
Navarrete, who is facing charges of child abuse and possibly facing further consequences for entering the fence, is being held on $ 100,000 bail. He will be arrested on March 30.
Associated Press contributed to this report