http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2295308a10,00.html
Tiger mauls man who scaled fence
28 February 2003
By CHRIS MIRAMS
a 4.5-metre fence at Wellington Zoo and was mauled by a
tiger.
The 29-year-old Wellington man, who has a history of psychiatric illness, suffered severe cuts to his neck and back.
He was in surgery for several hours last night.
Witnesses said the man told a woman with him what he was going to do, then
climbed the fence around the enclosure where six-year-old male tiger Rokan
was kept.
One witness said the woman “sat on the grass and put her shoes on and kind
of switched off from it” as the man was savaged.
After jumping into the pen, the man is thought to have tried to run, prompting
Rokan to attack him head-on, dragging him about 10 metres along the
fenceline.
Police said the man and his companion were patients of a Wellington Hospital
mental health unit.
Five students, third-formers from Palmerston North’s Freyberg High School in
their second week of secondary schooling, were at the zoo as part of a study of
animal behaviour.
Teacher Sue McIver was the first to raise the alarm when, just before 1pm, she
came across one of the students running from the scene. She sprinted to the
office and staff radioed animal keepers, who were finishing lunch.
Keeper Mark Turner, who has spent 18 years at the zoo and eight years in
charge of the tigers, found what he described as the “worst thing I’ve ever seen
in all my time . . . I’ve heard of things in other zoos that have been bad, but
nothing as bad as this.
“I looked in and saw Rokan sitting over the body with blood all over his face.
My first thought was, `Is this somebody I know? A keeper?’ I recognised it
wasn’t. He was lying on the ground. I thought he was dead.”
Mr Turner radioed for help and repeatedly called to the tiger.
Keepers then used hoses and the sprinkler system to try to drive Rokan away
from the injured man.
Mauritz Basson, life sciences manager at the zoo, fetched a rifle in case the tiger had to be shot. “He (the tiger) was
acting a bit strange and didn’t know what to do or where to go,” Mr Turner said.
The zoo’s female tiger, Cantik, was then moved alongside his cage and used to lure Rokan into a side chute.
Mr Turner went into the pen to check on the man, and was joined by off-duty Otaki policeman Brian Yanko. A visiting
doctor also helped till an ambulance arrived.
“He was bleeding from the neck and back and side,” Mr Turner said.
“We couldn’t see the back wounds initially. We weren’t sure whether to move him, because he was gurgling as his
throat was all punctured.”
The man was lucky he had chosen the male tiger’s cage, as females were more territorial and he would almost
certainly have been killed instantly, Mr Turner said.
Mr Basson said the tiger would not be put down as he had reacted naturally when his territory had been invaded. Mr
Turner said he did not expect any behavioural changes in Rokan as a result of the incident.
The school children had been tended to by Victim Support. A member of the zoo’s staff was trea
ted for shock. Anyone
who saw the attack is being asked to contact the zoo.