A visitor to the Bronx Zoo leaped from an elevated monorail train on Friday, plummeted over a fence into an exhibit and was mauled by a tiger, police and zoo officials said.
A man about 25-years-old, who jumped off the monorail at Bronx Zoo in New York and into the tiger enclosure, suffered bite wounds and puncture wounds to his arms and legs and the top of his shoulder, according to Jim Breheny, Bronx Zoo Director. He said tigers are extremely capable predators and usually grab a prey animal by the head or the back of the neck.
The man was in the enclosure before rescue for about 10 minutes — the time period which included removing the tiger to a holding area. The tiger was distracted with a fire extinguisher as he was placed into a holding area. The injured man was near the scene for another 20 minutes after he was instructed to do a body roll under a hot wire, and while he received medical aid from paramedics. The man apparently was trying to do harm to himself about 3:25 p.m. Friday.
The Bronx Zoo is one of the world’s largest metropolitan zoos, with over 600 species from around the world. “Wild Asia Monorail” takes visitors through a 40-acre area that includes mud wallows and pastures, forests and riverbanks similar to habitats found in Asia. The 20-minute long ride permits visitors to see tigers, elephants, and rhinos, and wild horses.
In April, an SUV fell into the Bronx Zoo grounds killing all seven occupants in the vehicle.
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