A captive Malaysian tiger, who refused to release the arm of a man who tried to pet it in a restricted area of a Florida zoo, died after a police officer shot him Wednesday night, according to local media.
The man in his 20s, an employee of a cleaning company working for the zoo, was seriously injured and had to be hospitalized. He had entered Wednesday evening after the closure to the public of the zoo “in a prohibited zone near a tiger which was in its enclosure”, specifies the police force of the county of Collier, where the zoo of the city of Naples is located.
Psychological help in place
The man then put his arm through an opening in the enclosure and “stroked or fed the animal”, according to initial police reports, when the tiger grabbed him. After kicking the fence of the enclosure in an attempt to get the feline to let go, the first police officer on the scene shot the tiger, killing the 8-year-old male called Eko, according to local press.
The zoo, which had not responded to the requests on Thursday, announced on its site the establishment for employees of psychological assistance in the face of “mourning”. On the zoo’s Facebook page, messages of support for employees and saddened comments abounded Thursday morning, lamenting the “unnecessary” death of a “magnificent tiger”.
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