Parents these days often find themselves being chastised for acing “soft”, or taking perhaps too much precaution when it comes to the safety of their children.

This is where the “when I was a kid, we used to…” stories come from.

“We didn’t have GPS; we just came home when the street lights turned on”.

“Helmets?  We were lucky if we were even wearing shoes on our bikes”.

And sure, some dads still toss their toddlers up into the air and catch them, but it wouldn’t be surprising to find some serious parenting article that warns against even this.

But there are certainly some lines that parents should never cross.  Like taking your child into a cage at the zoo.

Jose Manuel Navarrete, 25, entered the San Diego Zoo elephant enclosure with his daughter on Friday, posing for pictures and video before fleeing as an elephant charged at them.

Video shows the entire incident, including when Navarrete appears to drop his daughter while fleeing from the elephant.

The video is simply stunning.

A father has been arrested after he carried his 2-year-old daughter past protective barriers and into an elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo, coming within feet of danger. @Miguelnbc reports. pic.twitter.com/FKlidRf9TC

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) March 22, 2021

Authorities are taking the situation very seriously.

Navarrete is facing a felony charge of child cruelty, including possible injury or death, and is being held on $100,000 bail as of Monday morning.

He is scheduled for arraignment on March 30 at 8 a.m., with no projected release, according to county jail records.

Navarrete “purposely and illegally trespassed” into the habitat, zoo spokesman Andrew James said in a press release.

And the reason for the reckless behavior?

Navarrese wished to get a closer photograph with the animal.

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