By JIM FITZGERALD
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - 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.
The man was alone with the
400-pound beast for about 10 minutes before being rescued, zoo officials
said. He suffered bites and punctures on his arms, legs, shoulders and
back and broke an arm and a leg.
The attack happened at
around 3 p.m. in the Wild Asia exhibit, where a train with open sides
takes visitors over the Bronx River and through a forest, where they
glide along the top edge of a fence, past elephants, deer and a tiger
enclosure.
Passengers aren't strapped
in on the ride, and the 25-year-old man apparently jumped out of his
train car, with a leap powerful enough to clear the perimeter fence.
The man was attacked by an
11-year-old male tiger that has been at the zoo for three years. The
zoo's staff used a fire extinguisher to chase the tiger off, and the man
was instructed to roll under an electrified wire to get to safety, zoo
director Jim Breheny said. Zookeepers then called the tiger into a
holding area.
The man was conscious and talking after the mauling, Breheny said.
"If not for the quick
response by our staff and their ability to perform well in emergency
situations, the outcome would have been very different," he said.
Police said the man was hospitalized in critical condition.
The Bronx Zoo, one of the
nation's largest, sprawls over 265 acres and contains hundreds of
animals, many in habitats meant to resemble natural settings. Its
exhibits include Tiger Mountain, Congo Gorilla Forest and World of
Reptiles.
The tiger did nothing wrong
and will not be euthanized, zoo officials said. It was back in a
holding area where it usually sleeps at night.
___
Associated Press writer Tom Hays contributed to this report.
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2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A Siberian Tiger looks out from behind a tree at the Bronx Zoo in New York. (AP Photo)
