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Elephant kills zookeeper during morning walkPachyderm's actions puzzle officials
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- An elephant at the Pittsburgh Zoo killed one of her handlers when she pinned him to the ground during a routine walk Monday morning, a zoo spokeswoman said. Before the zoo opened, two keepers took two elephants on a walk through the zoo grounds, said Connie George, a spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium. The elephants are mother and daughter. The mother elephant "turned on the keeper and basically pinned him with her forehead onto the ground," George said. The elephant purposely attacked the keeper, she said. The elephant weighs more than 6,200 pounds. The other keeper tried to pull the elephant off the man, to no avail, George said. It let go of the keeper "in a matter of seconds" and then resumed walking as if nothing had happened, George said. Other zookeepers and staff offered assistance. They locked the elephants away with no difficulty, and ambulance crews were on the scene immediately to administer aid, George said. The keeper suffered internal injuries and died soon after the attack. The zoo has not released the keeper's name. The elephant is the first born in the United States since 1985, George said. The zoo will not release the elephant's name or the names of any of the animals "because they're ambassadors for their species, and we don't want them to be seen as pets," George said. The elephant will remain at the zoo, which has never had a comparable incident in 104 years, George said. "What elephants do when they're fighting, when they're anxious, is they head-butt," George said. "We don't know why this happened -- but she's a wild animal, and that's a risk. It's not a guaranteed safe job to be an elephant keeper." George said the elephant will continue to have regular morning walks.
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