(CNN) — A critically endangered tiger was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy Wednesday right after a man was attacked by the animal at a zoo in Naples, Florida, officials claimed.
The gentleman, who is in his 20s, was seriously hurt when he entered an unauthorized region of the tiger enclosure at the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens and started both petting or feeding the tiger, the Collier County Sheriff’s Business office claimed in a Facebook post.
The assault transpired just after the zoo had closed for the day. The guy was aspect of a 3rd-bash cleaning service contracted by the zoo to cleanse restrooms and the gift store, not the animal enclosure, the sheriff’s office noted.
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The tiger grabbed the gentleman’s arm and pulled it into the enclosure immediately after he crossed “an initial fence barrier and place his arm by way of the fencing of the tiger enclosure,” the sheriff’s business office assertion claimed.
The initially deputy to answer to the scene kicked the enclosure and attempted to get the tiger to release the male’s arm, but the deputy “was compelled to shoot the tiger,” the sheriff’s business mentioned.
The gentleman, who was not named by authorities, was transported to an region hospital.
The tiger, named Eko, died, a zoo official explained to CNN. Eko was 8-years-old and arrived at the Naples Zoo in December 2019, the formal explained. The zoo did not provide further particulars on the incident.
Eko was a Malayan tiger, which are typically discovered on the Malay Peninsula and in the southern tip of Thailand, according to the zoo’s site.
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Malayan tigers are critically endangered and face threats which includes poaching and habitat reduction, the zoo web-site claimed.