She received stitches but was not admitted to hospital.
A jaguar at a zoo in Arizona, US, attacked a woman who jumped over a safety barrier in a bid to take a selfie with the animal.
A video doing rounds on the internet, shows the woman writhing in pain with a deep laceration near her left wrist. According to reports in abc.net.au, the incident occurred on Saturday at the Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium and Safari Park in Phoenix, Arizona, when the woman crossed the barrier to get closer to the jaguar. The provoked big cat, which was in its enclosure, lashed out through the fencing, leaving deep gashes on the woman's arm.
Shocked onlookers who heard the woman screaming in pain, rushed to help her.
"My mom, my two kids and I are over at the jaguar enclosure and hear a young girl screaming for help," eyewitness Adam Wilkerson posted on Reddit, alongside the video. He added, "My mum runs up and the only thing she can think to do is to push her water bottle through the hole of the cage near the jaguar. It takes the bait and unclasps the girl." The video filmed after the attack, shows the jaguar chewing on the water bottle.
— Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (@ZooWildlife) 11 March 2019
Confirming the incident, the zoo authorities wrote on Twitter that the visitor sustained non-life threatening injuries to her arm, adding: 'Please understand why barriers are put in place'. While, a spokesperson for the zoo said, "The barrier surrounds the entire exhibit, creating a buffer of several metres from the enclosure, and crossing it is not something that is easily done."
The young woman whose identity has not been revealed, was treated for the lacerations and is said to have apologised for crossing the barrier. Zoo director, Mickey Ollson, said it was the second time the jaguar had attacked a visitor but denied reports of the animal being euthanised. Ollsan added that because it "was not the animal's fault and they would never harm an animal based on human behaviour".
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