*Elephant kills zoo handler *

 From correspondents in Moscow

October 10, 2007 09:25pm
Article from: Reuters

A NERVOUS elephant at a Russian zoo killed its handler today with a
single blow of its trunk after lashing out while being moved onto a truck.

Elephant handlers at Moscow city zoo had been trying to load three
African elephants onto a specially designed truck to transfer them to a
zoo in Spain when the elephant killed the 40-year-old woman.

"It was a most unfortunate death of a dedicated zoo keeper who had
worked with these animals for many years," a spokeswoman for the zoo said.

Moscow zoo had wanted to move the elephants because the city centre zoo
was too cramped.