Attacks By Tigers On Humans: Few But With Dramatic Results
The tiger is one of the most impressive and elegant felines on earth. Beyond its majestic appearance, tiger attacks on humans have increased in recent years. Especially in zoos in Asian countries.
Attacks of tigers on humans
By itself, a 220-kilogram animal already commands respect, but if the attack comes from a tiger, the consequences can be truly dramatic.
Whether in the wild or in zoos, tiger attacks on humans usually end with a fatal outcome for humans. Trying to tame such an animal is sheer madness. Let’s find out what have been the most striking tiger attacks of recent times.
Youngor Wildlife Park Zoo in China
At the beginning of 2017, in the huge Young Wildlife Park zoo , located near Shanghai, the capital of China, there were moments of real terror when a family of tigers attacked a man walking with his wife and child inside the enclosure of tigers.
No one understood how the family could enter the enclosure, but the bold gesture had a terrible outcome. After a few agonizing minutes of fighting, the man lost his life under the eye of several dozen tourists who could not do anything to save him.
Zoo workers tried to scare the animals with firecrackers, but it didn’t help. The tiger, which grabbed the man by the neck, dragged him into the adjacent grove where he found his end.
Unfortunately, as often happens in these cases, the animal was killed a few days later, which was much criticized given the seriousness of the mistake in protecting the enclosure that contained the herd of tigers.
Attacks by tigers on humans: Badaling Wildlife Park (Beijing)
In 2016, many were horrified to see a video of a tiger attacking a woman at Badaling Wildlife Park in Beijing, China. The love of the Chinese for animals makes zoos very profitable activities, but in this case the originality of the attraction prevailed.
The Badaling Wildlife Park wanted to show the animals to visitors so different from other zoos. With vehicles it made it possible to travel a circuit that crossed areas where the animals lived “free”.
The rules are clear, but after an alleged discussion inside the car, a woman decided to leave the vehicle without realizing the proximity of two tigers. A few seconds later, one of the animals grabbed the woman with its claws and dragged her into the vegetation.
The man and woman who were in the car with her rushed to her aid, but there was little they could do. The second woman was also attacked by another tiger, but luckily she managed to escape.
The first woman was not so lucky and died instantly, despite the zoo workers intervening. In China, tiger attacks on humans have led to the temporary closure of several zoos.
The New Delhi Zoo
Once again, the structures of a zoo were the cause of the death of a person “at the hands” of a tiger. In this case, the boy accidentally fell into the pit where the tiger was playing quietly.
It took only five minutes for the tiger to kill the 20-year-old man causing deep wounds in his neck. The young man’s family denounced the zoo and its operators for not intervening in time. But the zoo’s lawyers claimed that the tiger had been unnerved by the other visitors throwing stones and other objects at her.
The zookeepers also claimed that the tranquilizer arrows take 15 minutes to take effect, and that therefore there would be no time to intervene and save the boy (who died only five minutes after falling into the pit).
Keeping these types of animals locked up can have fatal consequences at the slightest mistake. In contexts such as those described, tiger attacks on humans can occur more frequently. All countries should follow the example of Costa Rica which has banned zoos.
