Worker Attacked by Tiger at Florida Zoo May Face Charges Following Animal Death

Jack Mulvena, president of the Naples Zoo on Florida’s west coast, said Collier County authorities are considering bringing charges against River Rosenquist, 26, who last Wednesday, after the enclosure closed, went into the area of the big cats and apparently tried to touch or feed the animal. Eko, an adult Malaysian tiger who arrived at Naples Zoo in 2019, grabbed his arm and threw him through the fence, and kept it that way until a police officer had to shoot the animal down, according to authorities. A video recorded by the zoo’s security cameras shows the worker asking for help while the feline has a good part of the man’s limb in his mouth. Mulvena said at a press conference that the zoo for its part will not file charges as a result of this fact in which, he said, the protocols and internal policies of the institution have no responsibility “in any way for this” and that it was rather a human error. The manager supported that the agent make use of his firearm, a decision that is in accordance with the protocols of the zoo in a similar situation, and I also wish the best to the worker during what will be “a difficult recovery process”. Eko will undergo a necropsy on Monday, added Mulvena, who estimated that the bullet that killed the feline is still lodged in his neck. The zoo opened friday after officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission conducted an investigation at the site the day before. The death of this Malaysian tiger, an endangered species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), will lead to the creation of a fund in favor of the conservation of these felines by the zoo, revealed the executive

Original source in Spanish