Animal keeper dies of elephant attack at Hyderabad zoo, police launch probe

On Saturday afternoon, the animal keeper entered the elephant enclosure to clean it. Despite its legs being chained, the elephant managed to suddenly throw off its keeper.

A zoo official said this was the first time an incident of this nature has occurred at the zoo. “It was a 40-year-old elephant. It is a wild animal and is always unpredictable. It can be erratic at times. The police are investigating the death,” he said.

Another official said the elephant was in a state of ‘musth’, a periodic condition in bull elephants characterised by aggressive behaviour and accompanied by a large rise in reproductive hormones, for about 15 days last month but was completely fine of late.

The zoo houses one male elephant and three female elephants among 2,400 mammals, reptiles, birds, etc that form 194 species in the zoo.

The elephant was rescued from Tirupati and has been with the zoo for the last 20 years.

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