Man arrested after taking 2-year-old into San Diego Zoo elephant habitat

SAN DIEGO — A man was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment after he carried his 2-year-old daughter into the elephant habitat on Friday to take a photograph, authorities said.

>> Read more trending news

Jose Manuel Navarrete, 25, was charged with child cruelty with possible death or injury, according to San Diego County Sheriff’s Office online booking records. Bail was set at $100,000, and he will be arraigned on March 30, records show.

According to police, at about 4 p.m., officers were called after Navarrete was seen carrying his daughter through two fences and into the exhibit, KGTV reported. One of the fences is electrified, the television station reported.

“This afternoon, March 19, 2021, two guests, despite multiple barriers, purposely and illegally trespassed into a habitat, which is home to our Asian and African elephants,” zoo spokesperson Andrew James said in a statement. “San Diego Zoo security promptly responded to the incident, but the guests had already exited the habitat.”

According to police, the elephants became upset after Navarrete entered the enclosure with his daughter, KGTV reported. Seeing the animals upset, Navarrete fled the exhibit with his daughter, dropping her on the way out.

“A lot of people froze and didn’t know really how to take it in, then immediately everyone was pleading with (Navarette) and then it became frantic and hysterical,” Matthew Passiglia, who witnessed the incident, told KNSD. “It was a big roar. (The elephant) stuck its head up in the air and its tusks and he started trotting toward them.”

Passiglia said the elephant came within 5 feet of Navarrete and his daughter.

“I didn’t think it was going to end well,” Passiglia told KNSD. “There was a moment when the elephant had the option and luckily the elephant took a second guess and there was confusion right there on the floor with them.”

“We told him to get out and he turned around and he saw it, thankfully, just in time,” another witness, Jake Ortale, told KSWB. “He runs, throws his baby through the gate and it’s seconds from hitting him. He jumps through the gate, falls on the ground and then it roared. … The baby starts crying and people were just mad at this guy.”

Navarrete, his daughter and the elephants were all unharmed in the incident, KWSB reported.

After Navarrete’s arrest, the child went home with her mother, Officer Tony Martinez told the television station.

Cox Media Group