Jose Navarrete: Father Seen in Viral San Diego Zoo Elephant Video

Jose Navarrete is a 25-year-old father who is accused of taking a small child into the elephant habitat enclosure at the San Diego, California, zoo, after authorities say he entered the area because he wanted to take a photo.

The video, which you can watch below, shows the father standing inside the fence as a large elephant comes up behind him. He’s holding a small child. As people express shock, the father tries to scurry back through the fence. He then drops the child before picking her back up, unharmed.

According to jail records in San Diego County, the father’s name is Jose Manuel Navarrete. Here’s the video:

Here’s what you need to know:

Jose Navarrete Was Arrested & Accused of Child Cruelty

Jail records

The stunt could have serious consequences for Jose Navarrete. Jail records show that Jose Manuel Navarrete is in the San Diego County Jail. The records say he’s 25 years old and was arrested on March 19, 2021, by the San Diego Police Department. His bail was set at $100,000. He’s charged with child cruelty.

According to AP, the zoo’s spokesman alleged that Navarrete “purposely and illegally trespassed” into a habitat for Asian and African elephants on a Friday afternoon.
According to CNN, Navarrete had to bypass barriers to get inside the elephant enclosure. Heavy.com has reached out to the zoo for more details.

Navarrete Was Carrying a 2-Year-Old Child to Take a Photo, Reports Say

The zoo’s spokesman told the AP that the man went into the elephant habitat because he wanted to take a photo. The elephant in question was an African bull elephant and wasn’t harmed.

A witness spoke to Fox 5 San Diego. “You hear this woman yelling, ‘Jose, stop. Jose, stop,’” witness Lori Ortale said to the television station. “And he jumps the fence and then he goes through the elephant enclosure, and he’s got his little girl with him who, I don’t know, had to be under 2.”

Another witness also described the harrowing scene to the Fox station.

“We told him to get out and he turned around and he saw it, thankfully, just in time,” witness Jake Ortale said to Fox 5. “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.”

According to the television station, the child Navarrete was carrying was his daughter who went home with her mother and was not harmed.

The San Diego Zoo’s page on elephants explains, “At first glance, African elephants look similar to Asian elephants, but they are different species that live in different parts of the world. Yet in Elephant Odyssey, you can see both species! How to tell them apart? African elephants have very large ears that are shaped like the continent of Africa, while Asian elephants have smaller ears.”

It continues, “Also, an Asian elephant’s back is rounded, but an African elephant’s back has a dip or sway in it. Their trunks are a little different, too: African elephants have two ‘fingers’ at the end of their trunk; Asian elephants have one. Asian elephants are categorized as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, and African elephants are Vulnerable.”

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