Dancing and fighting in cages: 14 amazing cases of people getting into enclosures for animals in zoos

Zoos are a place where we can see animals that we may never see in the wild. But in the desire to get to know the animals closer, some people go to extreme measures, reports Reading24.

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Levan Meritt (1986) when he was five years old fell into the enclosure of a gorilla named Jumbo in Jersey Zoo.

As a result, the little Brit's arm was broken and his head was pierced, he lost consciousness. While the boy was unconscious, the gorilla Dobro stroked his back, guarded the child and did not let his relatives near him. Little Levan was saved, Jumbo also survived: then zoologists recognized that he was not dangerous for the child. Levan later said that the story of the gorilla changed his life. He came to Jersey several more times to meet with Jumbo.

The zoo staff even gave Levan a gorilla soft toy, which he still has. Jumbo passed away in 1992 at the age of 32. Levan was invited to the zoo to see off his old friend on his last journey.

On the evening of September 21, 2012, 25-year-old David Villalobos jumped off a monorail tram that allows visitors to the Bronx Zoo to watch the animals from above. He landed in an enclosure where Siberian tigers lived.

The uninvited guest was attacked by an 11-year-old Bachuta tiger. The fight between man and animal lasted about 10 minutes, and the zoo staff managed to save Villalobos from predators. By means of a jet from a fire hose, they drove Bachuta away. Villalobos was taken to the medical center with injuries to his arms, legs and back. Doctors considered amputating his left lower leg, but abandoned the idea.

Zoo Santiago On May 21, 2020, the young man completely undressed and climbed into the enclosure, where there was a family of predators. The naked man not only entered the enclosure with a rope, but also began to tease the animals. At first, the trinity of lions ignored the man, but after he grabbed one of them, predators brought from Africa about 20 years ago attacked the man.

The animals had enough time to crush him before the zookeepers intervened. As noted by the director of the institution, Alejandra Montalba, the incident that occurred in front of many visitors, including children, ended relatively well for the man - the victim with multiple wounds was taken to the hospital. However, Zoo security officers were forced to shoot the predators in order to save a human life.

In August 1996 in Brookfield Zoo, Illinois, USA there was an amazing incident. A three-year-old child fell into the gorilla enclosure from a height of seven meters. Everyone knows that the gorilla is a strong and dangerous animal that jealously guards its territory from strangers, but to the surprise of the frightened crowd, the gorilla Bente Ju approached the unconscious boy, she carefully lifted the baby in her arms, stroking his back, carried him more than 20 m to the exit from the cage where the child was taken from her by the zoo staff. The boy was quickly brought to consciousness, he escaped with a slight fracture of his arm and several abrasions. At that time, the gorilla was eight years old, and she was raising her own 17-month-old baby. Bente has never been in the wild, she was fed and raised by people.

В zoo in Odessa a visitor entered an enclosure with wild predators for a selfie. The man, being in a state of intoxication, climbed over the fence into a cage with lions and tried to take a picture with them. Local residents did not show aggression towards the intruder and did not attack him. Before rescuing the brawler, the zoo staff had to take all the animals out of the enclosure. After that, law enforcement officers came for the photo safari lover, but the man refused to leave the home of wild cats, and the policeman had to use a gas spray.

A similar incident happened earlier in Polish zoo. There, a man climbed into an enclosure with a bear, got into a fight with him.

In one of the largest zoos in Europe in Copenhagen the visitor wanted a thrill and made his way into the enclosure to the elephants. He tried to scare them and waved his arms. Seeing the stranger, the animals immediately began to protect and calm the offspring. They stroked the baby elephant and hid it behind them, and then rushed to the man. He, it seems, himself realized that he had committed stupidity, so he had to obey the lawful demand of the animals and leave the territory. The stranger even raised his hands, as if in front of the police, and the elephants calmly but confidently escorted the intruder to the exit, or rather back to the fence.

Zoo in Penza. In 2018, a video shot by visitors to the Penza Zoo went viral on social networks. It shows an ostrich beating a man. At first, a person can be mistaken for a child - the bird throws him so easily throughout the enclosure, but towards the end of the short video it becomes clear that the person in the video is an adult, and he is well acquainted with the bird. Indeed, this is one of the zookeepers who is tasked with keeping an eye on the birds. According to journalists, the man was not seriously injured and escaped with a couple of scratches. The very next day after the incident, visitors saw him next to the enclosure. The employee interacted with the ostrich quite peacefully, fed it through the bars and even danced a mating dance with it.

Zoo in the city Trivandrum. A visitor to a zoo in the Indian city of Trivandrum in the southwest of the country decided to communicate with a two-year-old lioness. The man immediately after entering the park went straight to the enclosure with the predator, climbed over the fence and crawled on all fours to the animal. Frightened eyewitnesses began to call for help from the zoo staff, who, fortunately, managed to distract the lioness and lure her into a cage. The intruder was pulled out of the enclosure. He reportedly escaped with a minor leg injury. The reasons for the act of the thirty-year-old Indian are not reported. It is also not known what could threaten him for such a life-threatening violation of the rules of the zoo.

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Zoo in Gwalior. As you know, students do strange things from time to time, but Yashonandan Kaushik, a twenty-three-year-old future engineer in Madhya Pradesh, India, is simply a record holder for strangeness.

He jumped into the tiger cage at Gwalior Zoo. The strange incident completely stunned visitors and zoo staff. Koshik climbed into the cage, took off his shirt and, ignoring the cries of eyewitnesses, challenged the tigers to a fight. He tried to hunt wild animals and chased one tiger to his cave. Surprisingly, the student came out of the cell unharmed. Zookeepers said that big cats born in captivity rarely become aggressive and almost never attack humans.

Zoo in Cincinnati. At the US Zoo in Cincinnati, a four-year-old child fell into the enclosure of a 17-year-old gorilla named Harambe. According to eyewitnesses, the boy crawled through the fence and fell into the water from a height of about 4 m, and in the video, which was filmed by one of the visitors, it is shown that the boy got up and took several steps. At this time, a gorilla ran up to the child, which at first just looked at him for some time, and then began to drag him around the enclosure. Experts note that if a 160-kilogram gorilla were injected with a sedative, it would work in a few hours, so the zoo team decided that the best option would be to shoot the animal.

The zoo staff managed to help the child before the arrival of the police. The boy was immediately hospitalized with minor bruises, nothing threatened his life.

Zoo in Omaha. Jacqueline Gate, 33, broke into the Omaha Zoo on Halloween. Passing the guards, the American went into the cage to the lions. The predator bit her on the arm. She was taken to the hospital, where doctors managed to save her severely injured fingers. In the hospital, she behaved aggressively towards the staff and showed signs of alcohol intoxication. The police said that along with Jacqueline, another person made his way to the zoo, who, however, did not enter the cage with the tiger. She was charged with criminal encroachment on a protected object. It is not yet known when exactly the resident of the United States will appear in court and what punishment she will suffer.

Zoo in Warsaw. In the recently opened Warsaw Zoo after quarantine due to the coronavirus, a drunken man climbed into a bear pen and tried to drown him. The incident happened on May 21st. The man jumped into the pool in the enclosure, followed by the beast itself. The footage shows how the man first teased the bear, and then jumped off the artificial rock into the pool. The animal went down to the water, and the man began to pull the bear by the ears. Rescuers who arrived at the zoo pulled the man out of the corral and handed him over to the ambulance doctors. It turned out that he was 23 years old, and that day he was intoxicated.

Buenos Aires Zoo. A young man who jumped into a lion enclosure at a zoo in Buenos Aires and teased the animal escaped with minor injuries. He subsequently stated that he was ordered to climb into the lions by the "voice of God." Finding himself face to face with the king of animals, 22-year-old Lucas Thomas took off his jacket and began to tease one of the two lions of the zoo with it, just like a bullfighter during a bullfight. The lion, named Quickie, reacted appropriately to this behavior. He jumped on the man and began to bite him. According to the doctors, as a result of communication with the lion, Thomas had wounds on his hands and face, as well as psychological problems. Zoo chief veterinarian Miguel Rivaldo said the lions initially did not respond to the visitor because they were used to seeing people in their cage. Zookeepers, in order to extract Thomas from under the lion, euthanized the animal.

В Bronx Zoo, in NYC, woman climbed into the lion cage, danced in front of the lion and teased, but he did not seem to be impressed. The incident occurred on Saturday, September 28th. In a video posted by one of the eyewitnesses on the social network Instagram, a woman is seen dancing and waving at a wild animal, as if it were nothing more than an ordinary domestic cat. One of the visitors to the zoo, Kelly Hawkins, commenting on the incident, called the woman in the video "weird".

“Why would she do that? It's dangerous, ”she said, urging her children not to repeat what she saw. "Imagine if something happened and she was torn to pieces in front of small children."

Andres Rivera, the 22-year-old nanny from Westchester, said it was like the woman in the video “asked for it” (to be torn to pieces - ed.).

Another woman, Andrea Arndt, called this behavior "stupid."

“Sorry, but this is stupid,” Arndt said when she saw the video of her hair standing on end. And she added that "it may be a zoo, but it's still a wild animal."

Fortunately for the woman, there was a moat about 4,5 meters between her and the lion, designed to prevent wild cats from unexpectedly jumping out of the corral and not scaring visitors.

However, representatives of the zoo were not enthusiastic about what happened.

“This action was a serious violation that could lead to serious injury or death,” the zoo administration said in a statement.

The zoo also emphasized: “There are barriers and rules that ensure the safety of visitors, staff and animals. We have a zero tolerance policy regarding attacks and violations of barriers. ”

Leo, for his part, was not impressed by the behavior of the woman. On the video you can see how he looks a little surprised at the uninvited guest dancing in front of him.

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Law enforcement officials said the zoo reported yet another incident involving this woman. It is noted that she also climbed into the pen for giraffes.

The zoo refused to provide detailed information about this and only wrote a statement to the police.

It is noted that in addition to the fact that people climb into enclosures with wild animals, the Bronx Zoo has a number of other problems. For example, on August 6, a mangrove snake slipped out of a cage, which has not yet been found. Signs were seen at the zoo on September 28 warning that the 90cm tree-climbing snake was still on the loose.

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