A man who worked at the Naples Zoo in Florida was hospitalized with serious injuries on Wednesday when a tiger bit his arm after he entered a restricted area and reached into the animal’s enclosure, officials said.
”Preliminary information indicates that the man was either petting or feeding the animal, both of which are unauthorized and dangerous activities,” the office said. “Initial reports indicate that the tiger grabbed the man’s arm and pulled it into the enclosure after the the man traversed an initial fence barrier and put his arm through the fencing of the tiger enclosure.”
The man, a member of a a third-party cleaning service contracted by the zoo, was seriously injured and was transported to an area hospital by Collier County EMS as a trauma alert, the sheriff’s office said, noting that the cleaning company is responsible for cleaning restrooms and the gift shop, not animal enclosures.
Naples Zoo said that the 8-year-old tiger named Eko, which it had acquired in December 2019 from the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, died after being shot.
The zoo on its website says it will be closed on Thursday, Dec. 30 and will reopen on Friday, Dec. 31.
Its website says the tigers are native to the forests and mangrove swamps in Malaysia and face threats such as habitat loss, poaching for their bones and skin, depletion of their prey, and tiger-human conflict.
The Epoch Times has contacted Naples Zoo for additional comment.