Featured Image Credit: Andrey Tutov/Getty Images/ABC News
Topics: Animals, World News
Mia Williams
A woman was attacked by a jaguar in an Arizona zoo after climbing over the enclosure to try and get a selfie.
While it should be common knowledge to not approach wild animals, even those in captivity, some people just don't seem to understand the dangers until it's too late.
And this is exactly what happened to one woman back in 2019 when she saw a picture opportunity with a jaguar at the Wildlife World Zoo in Phoenix.
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Witnesses say the unnamed woman climbed over the barricade to try and take a selfie with one of the zoo's jaguars.
A witness filmed the aftermath of the attack, where the woman could be seen on the floor in agonising pain after the female jaguar lunged at her and lashed out with its claws.
She suffered severe gashes and scratches on her arms.
Witness Adam Wilkerson said to CNN that he was at the zoo with his family, when someone came running around the corner screaming for help.
“Without thinking, I had no idea what I was going to see, I just ran over there,” he said. “I saw the other girl up against the fence with her arm caught in the jaguar’s claws.”
He claimed that he could ‘see the claws in her actual flesh’, but didn’t want to pull her off the jaguar in case of doing more harm.
The woman, who was in her thirties, was taken to hospital where her arm wounds were treated.
Investigating into the matter further, Wildlife World Zoo said: “We regret to inform you that this evening, before closing there was an incident reported involving a guest, who crossed over the barrier to get a photo, according to eyewitnesses.
“The visitor sustained non-life threatening injuries to their arm from one of our female jaguars. At the request of the family, paramedics were called.
“At no time was the animal out of its enclosure. The incident is being fully investigated.”
Naturally, there were fears that the jaguar would be euthanized, but the zoo later confirmed on X that the big cat will not be put down.
In a statement, they said: “We can promise you nothing will happen to our jaguar.
“She's a wild animal and there were proper barriers in place to keep our guests safe - not a wild animal's fault when barriers are crossed. Still sending prayers to (the woman) and her family.”
The woman returned to the zoo afterwards to apologize for the incident, expressing that she felt bad about the bad press that it was receiving.
Spokeswoman Kristy Morcum said, according to CNN: “She feels horrible about the bad publicity the zoo is getting regarding the incident.”