Man mauled by tiger at New York zoo ‘wanted be one with the animals'

The man involved, David Villalobos, supposedly nearly lost a leg when the tigers in the area attacked him.

The zoo manager, Jim Breheny, explained that the incident happened last Friday afternoon. The train the man was on takes visitors on a scenic tour of the elephants, deer, and large cat exhibits. The man jumped into the Wild Asia exhibition, and the tigers lair.

The quick thinking zoo staff came to his rescue with a fire extinguisher to fend off  the 11-year-old, 400lb male tiger attacking him. When the tiger had released the man, he managed to roll under a fence.

The incident left Villalobos man with the bites and cuts all over his body, plus a broken arm and broken leg. He was in a critical condition, but is now stable.

Breheny said to Yahoo News “If not for the quick response by our staff and their ability to perform well in emergency situations, the outcome would have been very different."