WACO, Texas (AP) – A 25-year-old woman climbed past barriers and into an elephant’s zoo exhibit, then crawled out with minor injuries after the 6,000-pound animal smacked her with its trunk.

“That’s how an elephant reacts to something they would perceive as a threat,” said Cameron Park Zoo director Jim Fleshman.

After saying she wanted to play with the elephant, the woman climbed over a 3-foot-high wood-and-wire fence, scaled an 8-foot-tall artificial rock structure and bypassed an electric wire before jumping into the exhibit Thursday afternoon, Fleshman said. A moat extends around most of the exhibit.

After the woman got out, fire and emergency crews took her to a hospital with minor injuries, including scrapes on her side and arm. Waco Fire Capt. Greg Kistler said the woman, whose name was not released, was visiting the zoo with a child and another woman.

The exhibit contains two female African elephants that have been at the zoo at least nine years. Only one of the elephants struck the woman.

Both animals were stressed after the incident and were moved to a private area for part of the afternoon, and one did not want to return to the exhibit even later in the day. But both were back for visitors to see Friday, Fleshman said. “They’re not used to somebody being in their space.”

Owner hid ring a bit too well

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Marlene Kiraly asked her husband to hide the 3½-karat, uninsured diamond ring her mother had given her just before she died 23 years ago. Problem was, he did such a good job no one could remember where it was.

That was until John Kilcooley was renovating a bathroom in his home last month. Tucked away in a bag, behind a light fixture, Kilcooley found a 3½-karat diamond ring. Instead of keeping it, he tracked down the home’s previous owner, who sold the house in 2004. His wife called Kiraly and asked if she lost something during the move.

“She started crying and said her mother’s ring,” John Kilcooley said. “We could have sold the ring, but if I would have lost something or she would have lost something, we’d want somebody to track us down.”

The Kiralys unsuccessfully searched the house before they moved and had tried numerous ways to jog their memory. “I went to a psychic a month ago to find out where the ring is, and she said my husband hid it really well, and I would find it,” Kiraly, 48, of Lake Worth said.

As a reward, the Kiralys said they would fix the Kilcooleys’ hurricane-damaged outdoor screens.

Social Security: Sorry, you’re dead

CLEVELAND (AP) – Myron Manders, 81, wants the Social Security Administration to know that he still is alive. The problem is, it doesn’t seem to be listening.

Last November, Manders was preparing to leave a hospital where he was treated for pneumonia when a social worker said his insurance company would not pay the bill because it believed Manders died on Sept. 1.

Manders sought to clear up the problem by showing up at a Social Security office. The in-person appearance did not help.

William Jarrett, a Social Security spokesman in Cleveland, said Friday the mistake was due to an erroneous document. He could not disclose the error’s source. “It was a mistake on our part, and we are apologetic,” he said.

Jarrett said Eunice Manders has been paid a survivor’s benefit, which he said is now considered an overpayment she will be responsible for paying back, although she will have a right to appeal.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, recognizing that Manders served in the Army during World War II, notified Eunice that she is a beneficiary on his Veterans Affairs life insurance policy and that Social Security had notified the VA of Myron’s death.

Manders’ wife, Eunice, remembered that she first reacted to the news of her husband’s alleged demise with anger and laughter.

“I never laughed about it,” Myron Manders said.

The latest correspondence from Social Security came Monday addressed to Eunice, advising she is entitled to monthly widow’s benefits. Myron Manders would not say exactly what was going through his mind. “Curse words,” he hinted.

Required: Hook to hang your coat

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) – Restaurants, gas stations, stores and other businesses in one Connecticut city may soon face another regulation – coat hooks in all public bathrooms.

The City Council Ordinance Committee has endorsed a proposal from City Councilman Keith Rodgerson to create a local law requiring coat hooks. Rodgerson has said no one should have to leave belongings on a public bathroom floor because there is no coat hook.

The City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the proposal Monday before deciding on whether to amend the city’s health code to include the proposal.

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