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A two tonne escaped circus elephant called Tanya has killed a French petanque player with her trunk, police said on 9th September.
The horrific attack took place in the Paris commuter village of Lizy-sur-Ourcq, where Tanya was performing to sell-out audiences including young children.
‘She had finished her afternoon show on Sunday when workers reported her appearing ‘angry and upset’.
Tanya grabbed a tarpaulin with her trunk and used it to cover up the electric fence surrounding her enclosure.
She then stormed out into the town after smashing through two barriers, including one formed by a ring of circus trailers.
‘Tanya attacked the first person she came across, who was an 84-year-old man playing petanque in the village square with his friends,’ said an investigating source.
She slammed him to the ground with her trunk in a manner which left him with terrible injuries. She then trampled on him.’
Local police confirmed that the victim, who has not yet been named, died of his injuries in hospital in nearby Kremlin-Bicetre.
Animal rights protestors immediately accused Cirque d’Europe – the managers of the show at which Tanya was appearing – of cruelty.
Tanya, who was originally called Samba, was trained to lie on the ground under the big top, as crowds including hundreds of children screamed and shouted.
Muriel Arnal, of rights group One Voice, said: ‘We were told that when Samba refused to perform one day, she was hit repeatedly by her trainer who only stopped because the children were in tears.
‘I think Samba wanted to escape and the man was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.’
One Voice filed a criminal lawsuit against Cirque d’Europe, which denied mistreating the elephant.
No charges were brought and the case was dropped, with Cirque d’Europe simply changing Samba’s name to Tanya, so as to distance her from the litigation.
‘Ever since then we have gone to see Samba every two months,’ said Mrs Arnal. ‘She is on her own in the circus, she spends her nights is a small lorry trailer and she performs a number that is contrary to her nature.
‘We have always said that her place is not in this circus and that she could become dangerous. Any animal can become dangerous if it is mistreated.’
The elephant was captured in Kenya in the 1980s when she was just one, and then transported to France.
Cirque d’Europe, which also features tigers and baboons, has admitted in the past that Tanya has been known to charge people, and even to throw stones with her trunk.
An examining magistrate will now decide Tanya’s fate, and there is a possibility she could be put down. Tonight she was back in her circus trailer.
The deceased pensioner’s brother has now pledged to take legal action against the circus for not guarding her properly.
There have been a number of fatal incidents involving rogue circus elephants over the past decade.
In 2007 a female elephant killed her handler at Moscow Zoo, following a similar accident in the same place in 2001.
The supervisor of the Vienna Zoo elephant house was also attacked and mortally wounded by a young bull elephant called Abu in 2005.
News from : dailymail
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