Last photos of zoo visitors before animal attacks
Coming face-to-face with a dangerous wild animal seconds before being pounced on must be truly terrifying - and below we look at some chilling examples caught on camera.
Sounds of joy to bloody-curdling screams can happen in the blink of an eye - particularly when tourists and wild animals are involved.
The latest example happened in recent days when a zookeeper was mauled to death by lions after filming himself to “impress his girlfriend”.
Named as F Iriskulov, the 44-year-old was trying to round up three lions who escaped into a courtyard inside the Lion Park, in Parkent, Uzbekistan. The camera remained running while his screams were heard during the grisly incident. He was later pronounced dead before two lions were tranquilised and the third shot dead.
’Obsessed with tigers’
Maqsood Khan was later found responsible for the horror incident
One such incident involved a man with a self-confessed "obsession for tigers" who met a gruesome end.
Maqsood Khan, 22, climbed into the white tiger’s moat at New Delhi Zoo in 2014, only to be confronted by Vijay, a seven-year-old endangered tiger.
The ensuing horror was caught on camera by bystanders as Vijay observed the intruder for 15 minutes before the situation escalated. Despite attempts by the crowd to distract the tiger by shouting and throwing stones, the animal seized Maqsood by the neck and dragged him back to its enclosure, sealing his fate.
A witness recounted rushing towards the scene upon hearing screams, only to find Maqsood in the grip of the tiger’s jaws "writhing badly in pain”.
It took authorities two hours and a lot of effort to coax the tiger into a smaller cage within the enclosure, after which they were able to retrieve Maqsood’s mutilated remains following the deadly encounter.
The government later placed the responsibility on Maqsood, citing that he had ignored warnings and wound up in a zoo enclosure with a tiger due to his "misadventure" born from his "obsession for tigers”.
Safari horror
In a separate nightmarish event at a safari park, a Chinese woman was devoured alive by a tiger while her family watched on in horror. The tragedy in 2016 struck after she left her vehicle at the safari park to rescue her daughter.
Mei was pounced on as she left the car
Mrs Zhao bravely confronted the Siberian tiger at Badaling Wildlife Park in Beijing when it clamped its jaws on her daughter, Mei, and proceeded to drag her into the undergrowth. Despite Mrs Zhao’s courageous efforts, she was brutally killed by another beast.
Mei herself sustained life-altering injuries during the assault and faced criticism for breaking park rules by leaving the car, putting both herself and her relatives in peril. The horrifying episode, which was captured on CCTV, began with Mei stepping out of the vehicle amid a family argument, only to be seized by a lurking tiger that dragged her off swiftly.
Soon after, her husband and mother dashed out to help, as park staff raced to the scene in a vehicle, but it was too late for Mrs Zhao who fell victim to a second tiger.
While the wildlife park shut down temporarily for investigation, it would eventually reopen as no fault was found with the operation, even after the family sought legal action against the establishment.
Harrowing audio
Our last example did not happen in a zoo, but it involved a couple’s harrowing last moments with a bear that was caught on audio.
The photos are now haunting to look at given the nature of his death
Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were eaten alive by a bear in a camp in the Alaskan forest.
A self-styled ‘Grizzle Man’, Timothy unkowlingly recorded their final moments on his video camera after previously spending 13 summers camping with wild brown bears in Alaska.
It happened in October 2003 and Tim can be heard screaming: "Get out here! I’m getting killed out here!"
Amie shouted at him to "play dead" as she left her tent to help him. However, despite letting go of Tim momentarily, the bear dragged him away before he screamed at his girlfriend to "hit the bear".
He enjoyed camping out with bears
She did so with a frying pan and it was her bloody-curdling screams which are the last thing that can be heard before the camera cuts out. The silent beast devoured both the man and the woman with Tim’s mauled head later found nearby.
The bear was later shot dead before four bin bags full of human remains were found inside its stomach.
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