Chester Zoo to pay £75,000 for death of elephant keeper

Chester Zoo has been fined £25,000 and ordered to pay £50,000 costs after a keeper was butted to death by an elephant in 2001.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today and OHW+ - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Comments

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

Richard Hughes was helping to move a 30-year-old female elephant between pens when the animal lashed out and then headbutted him three times.

Yesterday at Chester Crown Court, professor Gordon Reid, director of the North of England Zoological Society, which runs the Zoo, admitted to breaching the Health & Safety Act.