An animal handler was mauled to death by a tiger he helped raise in China on March 11.
The incident was captured on camera by horrified onlookers at Fuzhou zoo in Fujian province.
According to local media, the man, identified only as Wu, was with the tiger inside a fenced training yard when the animal suddenly pounced. The cat “bit onto and suffocated the man to death.”
The tiger, whose subspecies was not confirmed, had been raised by Wu since it was a cub, and was “normally quite docile” after a long period of domestication.
Disturbing footage taken by witnesses shows the animal appearing to maul the handler who is on the ground, as onlookers desperately scream in the background. A staff member is seen trying to drive away the animal with a metal pole.
Another clip shows the big cat standing over the lifeless body of the man, while a person yells to call the police.
Officials said the tiger was part of an animal performance held at the zoo. The show, which was run by a circus group out of Anhui province, was previously canceled by the zoo. While the lions had already been shipped out, the tiger’s removal was still pending approval.
