Ragunan Zoo Responds to Viral Video of Child Falling into Elephant Enclosure

A viral social media video depicts a child falling into an elephant enclosure at Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta. The footage shows the child in a red outfit inside the moat area, with adults attempting to help by crossing safety barriers and extending their hands to lift the child out.

According to Ragunan Zoo’s Public Relations Officer Wahyudi Bambang, the exact time and sequence of the incident remain unclear as no official report was filed at the time. “The precise timing and circumstances of the event cannot be confirmed due to the absence of any on-site reports from staff during the incident,” Bambang said when contacted on Sunday, 15 May 2026.

He noted that visitors in the video breached the zoo’s safety regulations by crossing designated barriers. “The circulating video shows visitors exceeding the safety fences provided around the animal enclosures,” he explained.

Bambang also indicated that the visitors treated the animals as a source of amusement, filming the incident without showing alarm. “There are indications that the animals were used for entertainment or content creation by visitors, evident from their lack of panic during the event and continued recording,” he added.

He attributed the incident to insufficient parental supervision. “The management has installed safety barriers and multiple warnings reminding visitors not to exceed enclosure boundaries, which could endanger both visitors and animals,” he stated.

“The Ragunan Zoo management will continue to review and tighten surveillance to prevent similar incidents in the future,” he concluded.