i have lived around elephants—when a trainer abuses them—or is a jerk—there is an “accident” and the abuser dies. I have never seen any elephant harm a person they liked. Think of an elephant as a really big dog—who is really powerful. I do not know what happened here or what was the cause of the accident—It could well be a mental elephant, or a real accident—or any number of things—Maybe the elephant was sick?
If I had it to do over, I would go into zoology. We went to the Natural Bridge (VA) zoo a while back, and I got into a conversation with the elephant keeper. She talked about how she had worked her way up from a volunteer to her present job.
She brought her charge, a female elephant, over to meet me. I had the opportunity to pat her and to say hello to her. It was wonderful. She fixed her eye on me and listened to me while I talked.
The hair on an elephant’s hide is almost like spikes...feels like it could nearly cut you.