Woman Attacked By Jaguar In Phoenix Zoo After Stepping Over Barrier For Selfie

Social media seems like an inescapable part of our lives these days. Even if you’re not on any social media platforms yourself, it’s hard to visit a public place without seeing countless people posing for their own camera, in the hope that they will convince a bunch of strangers that they are ‘living their best life’.

Unfortunately, a number of people go above and beyond with this stuff, and end up taking extreme risks to get the photo that they want – even if it means putting their own life in jeopardy.

This was the case for a woman visiting the Wildlife World Zoo near Phoenix, Arizona, who decided to ignore the rules and take a serious risk in order to get an up-close-and-personal shot with a jaguar – and nearly ended up paying the ultimate price.

The woman, who we won’t name, had climbed over a barricade to get closer to the jaguar’s enclosure when the animal reached out and swiped at her. Witnesses said the woman was trying to take a selfie with the jaguar on Saturday when it lashed out.

As I’m sure you’ll agree, this was an incredibly stupid thing to do, and the woman suffered severe lacerations to her arms, for which she had to be rushed to hospital. An onlooker managed to distract the jaguar by throwing a water bottle into the enclosure, which gave others enough time to pull the woman out and get help.

The woman could have easily died in the incident, and there were also fears from animal lovers that the jaguar would be euthanized as a result. Thankfully, the zoo’s bosses confirmed on Twitter that the beautiful animal would not be put down after the attack. After all, it’s not her fault if people are stupid enough to approach her enclosure, is it?

They said: ‘We can promise you nothing will happen to our jaguar.’

‘She’s a wild animal and there were proper barriers in place to keep our guests safe- not a wild animals fault when barriers are crossed. Still sending prayers to (the woman) and her family.’

In a public statement, officials at the zoo acknowledged that the woman had climbed over the barricade, and said that they were investigating the incident.

‘We regret to inform that this evening, before closing there was an incident reported involving a guest, who crossed over the barrier to get a photo, according to eye witnesses,’ Wildlife World Zoo said in a statement.

‘The visitor sustained non-life threatening injuries to their arm from one of our female jaguars. At the request of the family, paramedics were called. At no time was the animal out of its enclosure. The incident is being fully investigated.’

Zoo director Mickey Ollson said it is the second time in a month that the jaguar has swiped at a visitor, which means that she wasn’t even the first person this month to ignore the signs and put themselves in harm’s way. Why can’t people respect nature and keep their distance?!

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