The cleaning worker of a zoo in Florida that this week was attacked by a tiger following entering a restricted area, a situation that led to a police officer shooting the feline fatally, might face criminal charges, they report this Saturday, January 1 local media.
Jack Mulvena, president of the Naples Zoo, on the west coast of Florida, USA, noted that Collier County authorities are considering filing charges once morest River Rosenquist, 26, who last Wednesday, following the enclosure closed , entered the big cat area and apparently tried to touch or feed the animal.
“Eko,” an adult Malaysian tiger who arrived at the Naples Zoo in 2019, grabbed his arm and threw it through the fence, and kept it that way until a police officer had to shoot the animal down, according to The authorities.
A video recorded by the zoo’s security cameras shows the worker asking for help while the feline has a good part of the man’s limb in its mouth; Furthermore, the man’s call to 911 has gone viral on social media.
Mulvena said at a press conference that the zoo for his part will not file charges as a result of this fact in which, he specified, the internal protocols and policies of the institution have no responsibility “in any way for this” and that rather it was of human error.
The manager supported the agent using his firearm, a decision that is in accordance with the zoo protocols in a similar situation, and also wished the worker the best during what will be “a difficult recovery process.”
“Eko” will undergo a necropsy on Monday, added Mulvena, who estimated that the bullet that killed the feline is still lodged in his neck.
The zoo opened its doors Friday following officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission conducted an investigation the day before.
The death of this Malaysian tiger, an endangered species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), will lead to the creation of a fund in favor of the conservation of these felines by part of the zoo, the executive revealed.
