Haunting photographs have captured the final moments of tourists before they were killed by zoo animals while visiting.
Only recently, a zookeeper was brutally killed by lions while attempting to impress his girlfriend through video.
The victim, 44-year-old F Iriskulov, was attempting to return three escaped lions to their enclosure at the Lion Park in Parkent, Uzbekistan, when the attack occurred. His horrifying screams were captured on the still-running camera during the fatal mauling.
Following the incident, he was declared dead, and two lions were tranquilized, with one fatally shot. The tragic event recalls other deadly animal encounters that have been recorded.
‘Obsessed with tigers’
One such case involved Maqsood Khan, a 22-year-old man whose “obsession for tigers” led to his death.
In 2014, he climbed into a white tiger’s moat at New Delhi Zoo and came face-to-face with Vijay, a seven-year-old endangered tiger. Onlookers filmed the terrifying moments as Vijay watched Maqsood for 15 minutes before the situation turned deadly.
Despite the crowd’s efforts to distract the tiger by shouting and throwing stones, Vijay grabbed Maqsood by the neck and dragged him into its enclosure, resulting in his death. A witness described rushing to the scene after hearing screams, only to see Maqsood being mauled by the tiger, “writhing badly in pain”.
It took authorities two hours and a significant effort to lure the tiger into a smaller cage within the enclosure, after which they were able to recover Maqsood’s mutilated remains following the fatal encounter.
The government later blamed Maqsood, stating that he had disregarded warnings and ended up in a zoo enclosure with a tiger due to his “misadventure” stemming from his “obsession for tigers”.
Safari horror
Another terrifying incident occurred at a safari park, where a Chinese woman was eaten alive by a tiger while her family looked on in horror. The tragedy occurred in 2016, when she exited her vehicle at the safari park to save her daughter.
Mrs Zhao confronted the Siberian tiger at Badaling Wildlife Park in Beijing when it clamped its jaws on her daughter, Mei, and began dragging her into the undergrowth. Despite her valiant efforts, Mrs Zhao was brutally killed by another beast.
Mei sustained life-altering injuries during the attack and was chastised for breaking park rules by leaving the car, endangering both herself and her relatives. The horrifying incident, which was captured on CCTV, began with Mei exiting the vehicle during a family argument, only to be grabbed by a lurking tiger, who quickly dragged her away.
Shortly after, her husband and mother rushed out to assist, as park personnel arrived in a vehicle. However, Mrs Zhao was killed by a second tiger.
While the wildlife park was temporarily closed for an investigation, it reopened after no problems were discovered with its operations, even after the family filed legal action against the establishment.
Harrowing audio
Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were tragically eaten alive by a bear while camping. Timothy, self-dubbed ‘Grizzle Man’, unknowingly recorded their final moments on his video camera, having spent 13 summers camping with wild brown bears in Alaska.
The horrifying incident occurred in October 2003, with Tim heard screaming: “Get out here! I’m getting killed out here!” Amie advised him to “play dead” as she left her tent to assist him. Despite momentarily releasing Tim, the bear dragged him away before he yelled at his girlfriend to “hit the bear”.
She did so with a frying pan, and her blood-curdling screams are the last sounds heard before the camera cuts out. The silent beast devoured both individuals, with Tim’s mauled head later discovered nearby.
The bear was subsequently shot dead, and human remains were found in its stomach.