Tiger Bites Arm of Man Reaching Into Enclosure at Florida Zoo, Officials Say

U.S.|Tiger Bites Arm of Man Reaching Into Enclosure astatine Florida Zoo, Officials Say

A antheral who worked for a cleaning work astatine the Naples Zoo successful Florida was earnestly injured connected Wednesday erstwhile a tiger spot his limb aft helium went into a restricted country and reached into the animal’s enclosure, the authorities said.

The archetypal sheriff’s lawman to get astatine the zoo kicked the tiger enclosure and tried to get the carnal to merchandise the man’s limb from its rima but was “forced to shoot” the Malayan tiger, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said.

The zoo said that the 8-year-old tiger, named Eko, which it had acquired successful December 2019, had died.

The man, who is successful his 20s, was taken to a infirmary by Collier County exigency aesculapian services, the sheriff’s bureau said.

A spokesperson for Lee Memorial Hospital successful Fort Myers, Fla., confirmed connected Wednesday that it was treating a diligent who had been bitten by a tiger but said helium could not merchandise immoderate further information.

The sheriff’s bureau said the man, who worked for a cleaning work hired by the zoo, had entered an “unauthorized area” adjacent a tiger enclosure aft the zoo had closed for the day. The cleaning institution is liable for cleaning restrooms and the acquisition shop, not carnal enclosures, the sheriff’s bureau said.

“Preliminary accusation indicates that the antheral was either petting oregon feeding the animal, some of which are unauthorized and unsafe activities,” the sheriff’s bureau said.

Citing “initial reports,” the bureau said that the tiger had grabbed the man’s limb and pulled it into the enclosure aft the antheral crossed implicit a fenced obstruction and enactment his limb done the fencing astir the enclosure.

Deputies were called to the zoo astatine 6:26 p.m., the bureau said. The zoo declined to remark beyond sharing the connection from the sheriff’s office.

In February 2020, the Naples Zoo announced that it had acquired Eko from the Woodland Park Zoo successful Seattle. The zoo said successful the announcement that it had funded efforts to prevention chaotic tigers for much than 2 decades.

Malayan tigers person been classified arsenic critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. Fewer than 200 of the animals stay successful the wild, down from arsenic galore arsenic 3,000 successful the 1950s, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

The money blamed the diminution connected nonaccomplishment of situation due to the fact that of development, cultivation enlargement and hunting.

In its announcement welcoming Eko, the Naples Zoo called the tiger “a large ambassador for his species” and said that erstwhile visitors spot him, “we anticipation they autumn successful emotion and privation to larn however they tin bash their portion to prevention his cousins successful the wild.”

The Naples Zoo, which draws astir 370,000 visitors annually, hosts a assortment of animals, including African lions, a Florida panther, achromatic bears, a buff-cheeked gibbon and clouded leopards.

Tiger attacks astatine zoos are uncommon but not unprecedented.

In 2016, a pistillate successful Beijing was killed by a tiger aft she jumped retired of a car astatine an carnal parkland to effort to prevention her girl from a tiger attack, authorities officials determination said.

In 2007, one idiosyncratic was killed and 2 others were earnestly injured aft a tiger astatine the San Francisco Zoo escaped from its cage soon aft the zoo closed. The tiger was aboriginal changeable and killed by the authorities, the constabulary said.

The twelvemonth before, the aforesaid tiger spot a keeper astatine the San Francisco Zoo arsenic astatine slightest 50 visitors watched, zoo officials said.

The tiger had reached done the robust bars of her enclosure and grabbed the zookeeper with some beforehand paws soon aft a nationalist feeding, successful which keepers typically present a repast of fortified equine nutrient done a tiny slot, zoo officials said.