Beware the elephant (archives)
Photo: Dalit Shacham
Girl attacked by elephant at Ramat Gan safari
Teenage girl breaks into zoo at dawn along with friend, sustains moderate to serious wounds after being trampled upon by elephant
A 17-year-old girl from Kfar Saba was moderately to seriously injured early Friday after being trampled upon by an elephant at the Ramat Gan Safari.
At around 5 am, the Magen David Adom call center received a report on a girl injured by an elephant at the safari. An MDA paramedic spoke to the young man on the phone.
The girl broke into the zoo at dawn along with a 20-year-old man from Petah Tikva. The young man alerted emergency forces to the area following the incident.
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The paramedic, Michal Shimhon, told Ynet, "We received an offbeat message about an elephant trampling upon a girl. The call center connected me to the girl's friend on a conference call. At first we couldn’t believe it, but we headed towards the safari nonetheless.
"When we were connected, we heard sounds of animals in the background. I asked to talk to the girls, and she said she was in pain. We rushed to the place and were greeted by the zookeeper, who had no idea what we were talking about. Along with the crew members, Yaakov Moadev and Barak Cohen, we opened the gates ourselves and were directed to the elephant cage by the guard.
"When we arrived at the area, the young man called us over. She was lying on the ground near the cage, complaining of pain and shortness of breath. An initial examination revealed injuries to the pelvis, stomach and chest. You could see that she was trampled upon by an elephant.
"We put the two in the ambulance and evacuated her to the hospital. On the way there, the young man told us that the two had climbed the fence and entered the elephant cage, about half an hour before we were alerted. I believe she was miraculously saved. She could have been easily killed."
Police officers arrived at the hospital and detained the young man for questioning. In his interrogation, the man said that he and the teenage girl had jumped over the zoo's fence and arrived at the elephant cage, when one of the animals dragged the girl into the cage with its trunk. After wrestling the elephant, the girl managed to free herself and get out of the cage.
This is not the first time young people break into the safari. Three years ago, 15 people between the ages of 20 and 27 were arrested after entering the zoo in order to feed the giraffes.
