The tiger was being fed by its handler when the 50-year-old man entered the enclosure, where he was attacked by the animal, injuring both arms. The tiger was safely contained by the caretaker and was not injured, according to the sheriff’s office. It’s unknown why the man entered the enclosure at this time and the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
The same county saw another tiger attack take place in December when a man put his arm inside the enclosure of a tiger at a zoo in Naples, which led to the man nearly having his arm amputated after the tiger attacked him. Many, including the sheriffs investigating the incident, were upset that they could not find a law applicable enough to charge 27-year-old River Rosenquist with a crime.
Rosenquist, who worked for a company hired to clean the zoo, was found to have jumped over a fence that separated the enclosure from the path where visitors are supposed to view the tigers from. The report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission also said that the fence around the enclosure was clearly marked with signs that read “DANGER AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY”
“We are having a hard time comprehending this happening again but want to share this breaking news with you,” the sheriff’s office wrote in the Tuesday afternoon post on Facebook about the new attack.
Tuesday’s incident took place at Wooten’s Everglades Airboat Tours, which posted a YouTube video in 2014 showcasing several exotic animals, including at least two tigers and dozens of alligators in its “animal sanctuary.”
An employee in the reservations department of Wooten’s said they were not aware of the incident and said the main office would likely provide more details tomorrow, according to the Naples Daily News.
In a separate incident last month, a man was arrested in Boston after he began to enter a tiger enclosure at the Franklin Park Zoo and quickly left the restricted area after zoo employees saw him and questioned what he was doing.
“I was there as a spectator of the zoo. I didn’t mean to harm anybody,” 24-year-old Matthew Abraham told local media at the time. “I wasn’t looking to harm the tiger. I wasn’t looking to harm myself neither… My plan was just to go see what is a tiger. How would a tiger react to a human being?”
Newsweek reached out to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office for comment.
Update 03/22/22, 6:40 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and background.
