More than 300
years after its death, a pet elephant that once belonged to King Louis XIV has
been attacked by a would-be ivory poacher.
By Henry
Samuel, Paris
10:53PM BST 31
Mar 2013
A 20-year-old
man allegedly broke into the Museum of
Natural History in Paris
Neighbours
alerted police after being roused by the sound of a chainsaw at 3am. The
museum’s alarm also went off after the thief had climbed railings and smashed a
thick window to enter.
Within
minutes, officers caught a man carrying the tusk over his shoulder. He had a
fractured ankle apparently after jumping from a wall. They found the chainsaw
still whirring in the museum.
The African
elephant, whose skeleton stands in the anatomy gallery of the museum in the
Jardin des Plantes was given to the Sun King by the king of Portugal Versailles Palace
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