Elephant in Morocco zoo kills 7-year-old girl by hurling rock at visitor

Calls by animal rights groups to close zoos and wildlife parks appear to have some logic, besides their main argument that animals should not be kept in cages but live in their natural environment. Recent spate of animal attacks on visitors show that zoos and naturist parks could also be fatal to the visitors.

After Saturday’s incident when a tiger attacked, killed and ate a woman at China’s Badaling Wildlife Park in Beijing, an elephant in a Morocco zoo killed a seven-year-old visitor on Thursday. The elephant hurled a big rock and hit the girl on the back of her head, reports the New York Daily News.

The victim was reportedly on the shoulders of her father so the mother could take a photo while the elephants walk in the background. They were in front of the beast’s enclosure at the Jardin Zoologique in Rabat when Assia, the elephant, picked the large stone and threw it.

The girl was rushed to a hospital but died several hours later. After the rock hit the victim, the family is seen holding her head in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

The zoo does not have a metal fence to separate the animals from visitors, but it has a wooden fence and a large ditch, notes CNN. The zoo managers say the zoo meets require international safety benchmarks.

Jardin Zoologique has no plans to put down the rock-throwing elephant, but according to its Facebook page, the place is temporarily closed. It is the first fatal incident at the zoo since it opened in 2012. The zoo staff, who offered their sympathy to the girl’s family, said in a statement, “These kinds of accidents are rare, unforeseeable and unusual.”

VIDEO: Girl Dies after Zoo Elephant Throws Rock at Her

Source: NewsBeat Social