People. Folks. Team. Everyone.
Do not. Climb into. Animal enclosures. At the zoo.
I cannot, and I cannot stress this enough, stress this enough.
The latest terminal twit to fail at removing themselves from the gene pool is a woman in her 30s who visited a zoo in Arizona. After climbing over a pretty significant barrier to get closer to the edge of the jaguar enclosure, she was mauled by a female jaguar who grabbed her by the arm through the cage.
The woman reportedly suffered at least one deep laceration to her arm, before another woman reportedly distracted the big cat by pushing a water bottle through the fence while her son pulled the selfie-taker away.
As incidents like these always raise the spectre of Harambe – the gorilla who was shot dead after a toddler fell into his enclosure and was dragged around the space by the huge silverback – the zoo was quick to reassure the public that there was no chance of the jaguar being put down.
Please understand why barriers are put in place. Sending prayers to the family tonight. pic.twitter.com/2MPb8bXhwR
— Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (@ZooWildlife) March 10, 2019
She won’t be put down.
— Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park (@ZooWildlife) March 10, 2019
? Stay ? out ? of ? wildlife ? animal ? enclosures ?
That got Harambe killed and could’ve gotten a jaguar killed, too. https://t.co/coVNCjGNs7
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) March 10, 2019
It’s bad enough that an estimated 250+ people are dying every year and thousands more risking life and limb trying to take selfies in dangerous spots, from cliff tops to the sunflower fields of Queensland.
But there are definitely too many people just not bothering to try not to get killed in places where there are extremely lethal animals within the swipe of a paw.
Remember the woman who got out of her car in the middle of a drive-through tiger enclosure and was dragged away by – surprise! – a tiger?
The man who in the same park ignored warnings about rolling down his car windows and was bitten by a bear?
The dude mauled by a tiger after he climbed the fence to avoid paying for a ticket?
The THREE separate incidents where people keep climbing into the enclosure of Gu Gu the panda, all of whom were bitten?
It’s not even a new problem caused by millennials’ obsession with selfies – a then 29-year-old woman from NSW made headlines in 1994 for scaling the fence of a polar bear enclosure at a zoo in Alaska to get a photo, and being bitten on the leg by a bear named Binky.
In the words of Arizona Wildlife World: the barriers are there for a reason.
Anyone who’s ever been so much as swiped by a cranky house cat should know that animals are unpredictable. Honestly, people.
Anyway, I hope this woman makes a full recovery, and that she gets a whole lot of hearts on her Insta photo of the arm that she nearly got bitten off by a f**king jaguar.