full audience and you would hear the crowd clap, it gave you goosebumps. >> reporter: but despite the excitement, david knows that working with the world's largest land animals is inherently risky. and david is warned about one elephant in particular. >> cindy had a lot of crazy behaviors with other keepers in the past. >> a known danger to humans be with only keepers who had trained cindy when she arrived from a tacoma, washington zoon are allowed to get close to the animal. newcomers like david always use the mate narc elephant nita when we are near her. for two years david keeps his distance from cindy but on that day in january he notices she's a little too close for comfort. >> cindy was flex to the gate and i needed to get her moved. and in the process of moving cindy, i opened the gate and i should have closed the gate behind me. >> but david doesn't close the gate. a mistake that will almost cost him his life.