A female elephant kills an employee in Spain

An official at the Caparcino Park in Spain said that a zoo employee was killed after he was hit on the head by a female elephant and collided with the bars of the barn.

He explained that the female elephant, which weighs about 4000 kilograms, struck the 44-year-old man with its trunk last Wednesday morning in Cabarsino Natural Park near the northern city of Santander.

The man was taken to hospital, where he died of his wounds, about three hours later.

At that time, staff was cleaning the elephant enclosures as part of their daily duties, and the elephant was with her baby in the barn.

"We are talking about animals whose behavior is unpredictable, and the force of the strike was enormous, and no one could escape from it," said Javier Lopez-Marcano, Minister of Tourism in the Cantabrian provincial government that owns the zoo.

Police and the zoo said they had opened an investigation, the first of its kind in the park's 31-year history.