Tiger shot useless after biting employee’s arm at Florida zoo

A tiger was shot useless at a Florida zoo after biting a cleaner who had put his arm by way of the fencing of its enclosure, regulation enforcement and native media stated.

The cleaner on the Naples Zoo was “was either petting or feeding” the eight-year-old Malayan male tiger, “both of which are unauthorized and dangerous activities,” the Collier County sheriff’s workplace stated in an announcement on Facebook late Wednesday.

“Initial reports indicate that the tiger grabbed the man’s arm and pulled it into the enclosure after the man traversed an initial fence barrier and put his arm through the fencing of the tiger enclosure,” the assertion continued.

The first deputy to reach “kicked the enclosure and tried to get the tiger to release the man’s arm from its mouth but the deputy was forced to shoot the animal.”

The sheriff’s assertion stated that after the capturing the tiger retreated to the again of the enclosure and was not transferring.

US media later reported, citing zoo officers, that the tiger, named Eko, had been killed.

An announcement on the zoo’s web site Thursday stated it was closed for an investigation “and to allow our staff to process what has occurred and to begin the painful healing process.”

It additionally stated grief counsellors have been being made out there.

The cleaner, who was in his 20s, “was seriously injured” and brought to hospital, the sheriff’s assertion stated.

Eko had arrived on the Naples Zoo round two years in the past, in accordance with its web site.

The Malayan tiger is assessed as critically endangered below the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s “Red List” of threatened species.

The submit prompted dozens of feedback, some from customers calling for zoos to be shut down however many criticizing the cleaner for his actions.

“So some idiot may cost a tiger its life? So sad,” one typical remark stated.

Others stated there was no different choice. “If that was your family member…. Being unsafe or not, you would be pretty pissed if the deputy did nothing…. They are damned if they do and damned if they don’t,” wrote one.

© 2021 AFP