Man charged after jumping into zoo enclosure

By JUSTIN VELLUCCI

TribLive

Police have charged an Ohio social media influencer with hopping a fence on his birthday last month at the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium’s elephant enclosure, where he was nearly trampled twice by the animal.

“Almost elephant food,” the man, 19-year-old Noah Thomas, captioned a video of the encounter posted to Instagram.

Thomas, of Austintown, Ohio — a Youngstown suburb about 80 miles northwest of Downtown Pittsburgh — and a woman identified as Adrianna Marsco, 20, of Youngstown, sneaked into the Highland Park zoo through a temporary exit area around 11:20 a.m. Sept. 21, according to a criminal complaint.

The pair entered the elephant barn, where they watched the animals with about 25 children and adults, the complaint said.

Thomas then jumped over a 3-foothigh fence into the elephant enclosure, the complaint said. About 10 feet of “dead space” separated the first fence from a larger fence that provided a barrier between elephants and zoo patrons.

Police said Thomas attempted to sneak through a space between the larger fence and the wall when the elephant charged at him.

Thomas then returned to the gate, “directly in front of” the elephant, the complaint said.

Police said the animal again charged at him, this time ramming the gate and throwing its trunk through the space “in an attempt to strike at Thomas with its trunk.”

Thomas retreated and later posted video of the encounter to his Instagram account, police said.

Zoo officials Friday declined to answer questions about the incident or security at the zoo.

“This matter is now in the hands of the Pittsburgh police and the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office,” zoo officials said in a prepared statement.

Thomas initially captioned the video of the incident he posted to Instagram with phrases such as “Professional gate jumper.”

The video, in which Thomas also dubbed himself “Pittsburgh Zoo Survivor,” was not visible Friday morning on Thomas’ account, where he has 1,800 followers.

“Thomas likely could have been killed,” Pittsburgh police Officer Matthew Brumbaugh wrote in the criminal complaint against Thomas. “Thomas’ actions caused extreme risk of injury or death to not only himself but also the zoo staff, other zoo patrons and the elephant.”

In the complaint, Brumbaugh did not identify the elephant but said the “endangered elephant (was) at risk” due to Thomas “taunting it all for social media likes.”

The zoo houses five elephants, according to its website. Four other elephants live at the zoo’s conservation center in Somerset County.

When security confronted Thomas and Marsco, Thomas refused to identify himself, police said. The pair then left the zoo in a Honda with an Ohio license plate.

Pittsburgh police charged Thomas with six offenses, including causing or risking catastrophe, cruelty to animals and trespassing.

Marsco was charged with three crimes, including conspiracy to risk catastrophe.