Leonard Ncube and Kudzai Chikiwa, Sunday News Reporters 
 
 A 37-year-old American tourist was rushed to a private hospital in Victoria Falls with a fractured leg yesterday morning after she was attacked by a hippo while canoeing on the Zambezi River. 
 
 Mrs Christine Yaldor was canoeing with her husband whose details Sunday News could not immediately get. 
 
 They had booked with one of the operators for a mid-morning canoeing adventure, sources said. Mrs Yaldor and her husband were suddenly attacked by the hippo when their boat came closer to the animal as they enjoyed sailing in the river. A witness said: 
 
 “They came too close to the hippo and it panicked and attacked their boat. The woman was injured on her right leg in the process.” 
 
 Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesperson Mr Tinashe Farawo confirmed the incident. 
 
 “I can confirm that an American woman was attacked by a hippo while canoeing. She sustained some injuries on her leg but she has been since treated and the wound dressed,” he said. 
 
 Mr Farawo urged tourists and members of the public to be careful and avoid contact with wild animals as they could easily get agitated and attack. 
 
 “Our message remains the same, we urge tourists to be vigilant and extra careful. Never underestimate these animals. Simply stay away from them. Let us be careful and avoid unnecessary deaths and injuries,” he said. 
 
 Mrs Yaldor’s condition could not be ascertained by the time of going to print. 
 
 In September, another tourist from Germany was flown to South Africa for urgent medical attention after he was attacked by an elephant he was trying to photograph. 
 
 The tourist was in the company of his wife and was rescued by some curio vendors who scared the jumbo away. 
 
 @ncubeleon, @tamary98 ||||| People think this video shows gorilla Harambe trying to protect the boy who fell into zoo enclosure 
 
 As outrage continues to grow over the shooting dead of a gorilla at Cincinnati Zoo at the weekend, a new video of the incident has emerged which some claim proves the animal was trying to protect a young child who had fallen into its pen. 
 
 Harambe, a 17-year-old endangered West Lowland gorilla, was shot by animal control staff in the zoo after a four-year-old boy fell into his enclosure. 
 
 ViralHog has posted a 90-second video of the encounter, which a longer version of the first bits of footage that came out over the weekend. 
 
 In the video, Harambe can be seen dragging the child around the enclosure - but then putting its arm around the child and standing him upright in the water. 
 
 There's a lot of confusion over what the gorilla's intentions were, but some people are claiming that the animal didn't pose any real risk to the child. 
 
 Looks like the gorilla was protecting the child - from the frantic pitch of the people's reaction. Also, if... https://t.co/LFNpzrkBMh — Betty Barkas Hood (@heliosmou) May 30, 2016 
 
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 But others say that, regardless of how the gorilla may have behaved, the child could have drowned had extreme measures not been taken. 
 
 Dr Sharon Redrobe, from Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire, told Metro: 
 
 "In the footage I have seen the animal was clearly becoming more agitated and zoo officials need to make quick assessments. Tranquillising the gorilla with a dart just simply wouldn’t have worked in this situation. "It would have taken up to 10 minutes to take affect and the animal may have become violent which would have had catastrophic consequences." 
 
 Meanwhile, the child's mother Michelle Gregg can be heard in the video calling out "Mommy loves you" and "stay calm" from up above. Earlier today, Gregg responded to critics, saying "accidents happen" in a Facebook post. She wrote: 
 
 "I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers today. What started off as a wonderful day turned into a scary one. "For those of you that have seen the news or been on social media that was my son that fell in the gorilla exhibit at the zoo. God protected my child until the authorities were able to get to him. "My son is safe and was able to walk away with a concussion and a few scrapes... no broken bones or internal injuries. "As a society we are quick to judge how a parent could take their eyes off of their child and if anyone knows me I keep a tight watch on my kids. Accidents happen but I am thankful that the right people were in the right place today." 
 
 An online petition has been set up to press for "the parents to be held accountable for the lack of supervision and negligence that caused Harambe to lose his life." At the time of writing, 173,000 people had signed it. 
 
 Later on Monday evening, the director of the Cincinnati Zoo defended the decision to shoot the gorilla. Thayne Maynard told reporters at a press conference: "Looking back, we would make the same decision. The gorilla was clearly agitated. The gorilla was clearly disoriented." 
 
 The director added that the boy's head was smacking off the concrete as he was dragged through the enclosure, which was one factor in the decision to shoot Harambe. ||||| LOS ANGELES (CN) — The California Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a ruling that ordered improved conditions for elephants at Los Angeles Zoo, a setback for animal advocates who say the intelligent animals are being mistreated. 
 
 In August 2007, Los Angeles resident Aaron Leider sued L.A. Zoo Director John Lewis and the City of Los Angeles, challenging the expansion of the zoo’s elephant exhibit. Leider claimed the zoo subjected elephants to “cruel, abusive and illegal treatment” through use of chains, drugs, bullhooks and electric shocks. 
 
 In 2012, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge John Segal stopped short of ruling that the zoo’s treatment was inhumane but said officials need to take better care of the elephants. He ordered the city to stop using bullhooks or electric shocks and to exercise the elephants regularly. 
 
 A divided appeals court affirmed. 
 
 City leaders have recently highlighted conditions at the zoo, with Councilman Paul Koretz calling for the zoo to move an Asian elephant named Billy to a sanctuary. Zoo officials objected, saying that keepers are looking after the elephants. In his motion, Koretz relied on Segal’s findings in the bench trial. 
 
 Leider’s complaint said the keeper had shocked Billy and that the animal was bobbing his head – an indication, according to advocates, that he is stressed and isolated. 
 
 But the California Supreme Court on Thursday reversed the appeals court. 
 
 Justice Carol Corrigan rejected the theory in Leider’s taxpayer action: that the alleged criminal mistreatment of the animals was an unlawful use of public money. 
 
 Under California law, a taxpayer action cannot be used to enforce violations of criminal law, so an injunction against the city cannot stand, according to the unanimous court. 
 
 “Here, the trial court found that the city and its zoo director had violated penal code statutes proscribing animal abuse, but it provided them neither the right to a jury trial nor the standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” Corrigan wrote. “Moreover, Leider was permitted to exercise the discretion reserved for the district attorney with regard to enforcement of the criminal law. For these reasons, the Court of Appeal’s judgment cannot stand.” 
 
 Leider’s attorney David Casselman called the ruling “extremely disappointing,” and said evidence showed that elephants had died prematurely because of conditions at the zoo. 
 
 “Having gone all the way through trial and proving the need for injunctive relief under recognized statutory authority, it was very surprising that the Supreme Court would change the rules and effectively ignore the statutory scheme that has existed for decades,” Casselman said in an interview. 
 
 He said he hoped for a retrial before a jury. 
 
 “If it’s possible, I intend to pursue this through the Legislature, or anywhere else, to protect these elephants who are suffering dying prematurely,” he said. 
 
 The zoo praised the high court’s decision. 
 
 “Today’s California Supreme Court decision validates what Angelenos already know: the LA Zoo and its staff provides the highest level of care for our elephants and all our animals,” LA Zoo spokeswoman April Spurlock wrote in an email. “Our elephants live in one of the best – and largest – elephant habitats in North America at a state-of-the-art facility that has tremendous resources, a dedicated staff, and provides top-quality health care.” 
 
 The city did not respond to a request for comment. 
 
 The court remanded the case for further proceedings. 
 
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– By now, everyone should know not to get too close to hippos in the wild or in captivity, but a California man didn't get the memo. Officials at the Los Angeles Zoo tell the Los Angeles Times they've recruited the LAPD to help look for a most unusual sort of trespasser: a man caught on tape scaling a barrier and slapping one of two hippos in the pen below. The now-viral video, recorded from the other side of the enclosure by what sounds to be a young woman, shows the man slowly climbing over a railing, then reaching down to slap the butt of 4-year-old Rosie, who appeared to be snacking alongside her mother, Mara. Mara looks up briefly, and the person shooting the video can be heard giggling as the man lifts his arms up in an apparent victory stretch and runs off. But zoo officials warn that what happened was anything but funny. "Any unauthorized interaction with an animal is unsafe for the animal and potentially unsafe for the patron," a zoo spokeswoman says, noting something like this also breaks down the animals' trust that zookeepers have worked so hard to instill. The BBC notes hippos are responsible for more human deaths in Africa than any other big animal. The suspect could be hit with a misdemeanor charge or other infraction—California law bars anyone from climbing into zoo enclosures—but the case is being investigated as a trespassing violation, not an animal cruelty one, as the animals didn't seem particularly fazed by the incident.