Caretaker injured by elephant at Delhi zoo

An elephant caretaker in Delhi zoo was injured by an elephant named Hira, possibly due to mismanagement and the caretaker's behavior.

An elephant caretaker in the Delhi zoo suffered injuries on Friday after an Indian elephant at the facility attacked him, zoo officials said, adding that the mahout (caretaker) has been admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital with fractured ribs.

Caretaker injured by elephant at Delhi zoo

An official said the animal, Hira, was bothered by the mahout’s behaviour.

“Indian elephants are docile by nature. Further, Hira is not in musth (a state where reproductive hormones increase in male elephants, leading to aggressive behaviour) either. There are no permanent mahouts and this can be characterised as mismanagement,” the official said.

A video of the incident was shared on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), which showed the elephant chained to a hook on the ground and three men engaging with him from a distance. Later in the video, the elephant gets aggressive and runs towards the men, while two of them flee. Hira then attacks the third man, injuring him.

“The video shows that the mahout was misbehaving, which likely agitated the elephant,” a zoo official said.

Delhi zoo director, Sanjeet Kumar, said, “The elephant was not in musth. The contractual staff slipped and came in contact with the elephant’s trunk . He has been sent to RML hospital for check-up and treatment. He has been working at the facility for six months now.”

Another zoo official, however, said that the elephant might have been in a pre-musth state.