Zoos give us the chance to see some amazing animals from up close. But
just like in the good old Jurassic Park movies, if you put a bunch of humans
next to a bunch of dangerous predators, sooner or later, somebody’s going
to have a scary encounter or even worse: get hurt.
In some of the stories on today’s list, no one–– including the animals —
were harmed. However, some of the events ended in an unspeakable
tragedy.
So strap yourselves in and let’s take a look at some of these terrifying
encounters.
Tiger Attack on Ms Zhao
In July 2016, a woman whose name was reported simply as “Ms Zhao” was
attacked at the Badaling Wildlife World animal park near Beijing, China.
She was driving through the tiger enclosure (which is a permitted activity at
the zoo), when she decided to get out of the car and walk around to the
other side. It’s not clear whether she wanted to switch seats or do
something else, but when she reached the other side of the car, a Siberian
tiger pounced out of nowhere and dragged her into the bushes. Horrifying
footage captured the moment Ms. Zhao was carried away and quickly
followed by her mother and daughter who ran to her rescue. Ms. Zhao
survived the tragic incident but had reportedly been left disabled. Her
mother however was not so lucky and was killed by a second tiger, while
her daughter managed to escape alive. Ms. Zhao is now demanding
$305,500 compensation from the park.
Gu Gu The Biting Panda Panda
Pandas are often described as cute, fat, and cuddly, but that doesn’t mean
they like it when people try to give them hugs. Dramacool. Gu, the giant 18-year-old
male panda, who resides at the Beijing Zoo, is renowned for biting people
who enter his enclosure and has made international headlines for three
terrifying attacks in just four years. In September 2006, a drunk Chinese
woman jumped Gu Gu’s enclosure and tried to give him a hug. The large
male panda responded by biting and seriously injuring her. Told you:
pandas don’t like hugs. The second incident was in October the following
year when Gu Gu launched a vicious four-minute attack on a boy, who had
climbed into the enclosure out of curiosity. The 15-year-old was reportedly
so injured that his bones were showing and chunks of flesh were left
behind in the ambulance. And Gu Gu struck yet again in 2019, (this time
making international headlines) when he attacked a zoo visitor who climbed
into his pen to retrieve a toy his son had dropped. This time, zoo workers
had to use tools to pry Gu Gu’s jaws apart. Moral of the story is? Never try to
hug a panda–– you’ve been warned, kids
Baby Elephant Attacks Instructor
While elephants are typically seen as peaceful creatures, this young
The 2-year-old elephant decided to turn on his instructor. 40-year-old
Zookeeper Lucy Melo was teaching the two-year-old male Asian elephant
Pathi Harn how to wash in a barn, when things turned sideways.
Lucy said she’d asked him for a simple behavior, but he didn’t quite obey.
When she asked him to correct his behavior, she sensed a behavioral
change in the juvenile elephant. On her way out, the elephant raised his
trunk and pinned her against the wall. With the elephant’s trunk on her
chest, the zookeeper could hardly breathe, let alone give him the order to
stop. Luckily, Lucy’s co-workers saw the incident and quickly intervened.
She was taken to intensive care right away and thankfully. she completely
recovered from her injuries. What a close call that was!
Tilikum The Murderous Killer Whale
This next story doesn’t end as well as our previous one and had a tragic
ending for the instructor. A 12,000-pound killer whale named Tilikum was
captured in 1983 and sent to Sealand of the Pacific in British Columbia,
Canada, where he was professionally trained. However, no handlers had
ever been authorized to enter the water with him due to his sheer size.
Unfortunately, in 1991 a young trainer named Keltie Byrne fell into Tilikum’s
tank, where he and two other whales unknowingly played with the instructor
until she drowned. Tilikum was later transferred to SeaWorld Orlando,
where he lived without incident until July 6, 1999, when a SeaWorld guest
named Daniel Dukes snuck into his tank after the park closed. Dukes’
the battered corpse was found on Tilikum’s back a day later. 11 years later,
trainer Dawn Brancheau was working with Tilikum after a stage show,
when the orca pulled her into the water. Other trainers attempted to distract
the whale’s attention from Brancheau but without any success-– the trainer
died from several injuries and drowning. Tilikum continues to perform to
this day.
Santino, The Rock-Throwing Chimp
Fun as they may seem, chimpanzees can be pretty devious little apes.
Take Santino, for example. This ultra-moody ape lives in Sweden’s Furuvik
Zoo, and whenever guests show up at his exhibit, he starts throwing rocks
in their direction. Fortunately, the crowds are protected by a five-foot-tall
fence, a 30-foot gap, and a watery moat, but Santino does manage to
bruise a guest or two once in a while. However, what makes Santino really
scary is his ability to plan trouble ahead. In 2009, researchers revealed that
Santino woke up each morning to fish stones out of his moat and build little
piles of rocks before his guests would arrive. The researchers also noticed
that the Ape had been trying to upgrade his ammo by making throwing
discs out of concrete in his enclosure. Zookeepers eventually castrated the
chimp in the hopes that he’d chill out, but Santino continues to pile rocks
and now even fools his guests into dropping their guard before launching a
sneak attack. To be fair, castration probably just made him angrier. youtube
Melody the Tapir Attack
While Tapirs look as if someone had crossbred a pig with an anteater,
they’re actually related to horses and rhinos–– go figure. And while they
appear more silly than scary, these animals can turn quite aggressive,
especially when protecting their young. In 1998, Oklahoma Zookeeper
Morehead was going about her business when she came around to
feeding a Malayan tapir named Melody. When she slid Melody’s food
through a two-foot-wide door, she got a little too close to her two-month-old
calf. So Melody freaked out and went for the unsuspecting Zookeeper. The
Tapir dragged her into the cage and bit her arm into two pieces. Thanks to
her coworkers, Zookeeper Morehead was able to escape with her life, but
doctors weren’t able to save her arm.
Independence Day Lion Incident
The most horrifying incident on today’s list took place on one of America’s
biggest holidays in 1970, when three young Portlanders named Roger
Adams, Ken Bowers, and Michael Gaskell chose to celebrate by getting
drunk and picking up girls. Since they couldn’t get any girlfriends, they
decided to liven things up by breaking into the formerly known Washington
Park Zoo. As you might expect, the young gentlemen began pulling some
ridiculous stunts, such as Adams sitting at the edge of the grizzly bear
enclosure, taunting the animals. Bravened by liquid luck, Adams proceeded
to lower his legs into the lion’s exhibit while swinging them in midair–– big
mistake. Out of nowhere, a lioness seized Adams and dragged him into the
pit where she and another cat began tearing him to pieces. His friends went
for help, but unfortunately, it was too late and Adams was mauled to death.
But this wasn’t the end of their tragic tale. A few hours later, Bowers
returned to the zoo with his hunting rifle and killed the cats that were
responsible for his friend’s death. He managed to avoid the authorities for
two years but was eventually arrested in 1972 on unrelated charges.
Bowers was sentenced to three years of probation and was ordered to pay
a $1,200 fine
Wow, and that’s it for today’s tragic animal stories. Which of these Zoo
encounters do you think was the most horrifying? Let us know in the
comments below.
