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Man survives encounter with tigers after jumping into zoo enclosure to feed them

A man who jumped into a tiger enclosure at a zoo in Chengdu, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province, intending to feed the tigers rice from his backpack was lucky to escape with his life yesterday.

Judging from pictures tourists took of what happened, one of the tigers appeared to think that he looked tasty, or perhaps he looked like an interesting toy to play with.

The two females, white Bengal tigers born in 2006, had been fed with 8 kilograms of meat on Saturday and therefore weren’t hungry, according to officials at Chengdu Zoo.

The man, surnamed Yang, was sent to the hospital and with slight injuries on his legs and arms.

Yang had climbed onto the wall and jumped into the enclosure, dancing and yelling to the tigers. One tiger withdrew to a corner while the other one rushed at him and dragged him several meters.

Zoo staff members rushed to rescue Yang, and used a water hose, iron bar and an air rifle with a tranquilizer dart to ward off the tigers. Almost 50 staff members participated in the rescue.

A security guard found that Yang’s backpack, which was filled with rice.

Zoo officials indicated that Yang was also lucky in that the two Bengal tigers are gentler than Siberian tigers in the enclosure next door.




 

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