Zoo officials said the attack was unprovoked.

Zoo officials said the attack was unprovoked.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A three-ton elephant crushed her handler to death at the Pittsburgh Zoo & amp; PPG Aquarium during a routine trail walk before the facility opened, officials said.
Elephant keeper Mike Gatti, 46, of Butler, and a curator were walking the 18-year-old female African elephant and her 3-year-old calf on the zoo's African Savannah trail before 9 a.m. Monday when the 6,200-pound adult elephant stopped, said Barbara Baker, the zoo's president and chief executive officer.
When Gatti tried to get the animal moving, it hit him and knocked him to the ground, she said. The animal then pinned the worker with her head, crushing him, she said.
Officials called the incident unprovoked. Police were called while zoo staff and other handlers administered first aid and led the two elephants back to their holding area.
Gatti, who worked for the Pittsburgh zoo for about six years, died later at a Pittsburgh hospital. He was a native of New York City and had worked at the Bronx Zoo before coming to Pittsburgh, zoo spokeswoman Connie George said.
"He was a steady, hard-working individual and was very attached to the elephants," Baker said. "He was a steady force in the zoo."
The elephant would not be destroyed because it is an endangered species, Baker said. There are anywhere from 400,000 to 600,000 African elephants in the world, and while the population is healthy in some sections of Africa, it is sparse in others, said biologist Deborah Olson of the Indianapolis Zoo.
"This would have been the least expected animal to show this kind of aggressive behavior," Baker said. "This was one of our most easygoing elephants."
The handler's death is a surprisingly rare occurrence considering that zookeepers regularly work with massive wild animals, said Lisa New, the animal collection director at the Knoxville Zoo, which oversees one male and four female African elephants.
"At the best, you have a 200-pound man and a 5,000- to 8,000-pound animal. Just a turn of the head can hurt the man," New said. "It certainly is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world."
African elephants are considered to be more "wild" than Asian elephants, New said, but elephants of all species can have unique personalities and temperaments.
Male elephants tend to be more aggressive than female elephants, but mothers are likely to be protective of their young, she said.
Elephants can live into their 50s, so the animal at the Pittsburgh zoo, known as "M" by her handlers, was middle-aged. Her female calf, known as "V" by her handlers, could have been nursing, New said.
"It's really highly variable. Some individuals can have a real sweet, gentle demeanor and some can be high-strung," New said. "They can get spooked and you don't even know why they get spooked."
The zoo remained closed for the rest of the day and was scheduled to reopen today.