A man was injured in a tiger attack Tuesday at a southwest Florida wildlife park that’s connected to an Everglades airboat tours company, authorities said.
The man of roughly 50 suffered injuries to both arms and was hospitalized in unknown condition, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Sheriff’s officials responded to the incident at Wooten’s Everglades Airboat Tours in Ochopee after 4 p.m., the office said.
The victim, an employee of Wooten’s, apparently entered the tiger enclosure despite not being authorized and was attacked during feeding time overseen by a caretaker, the department said.
The tiger was put under control by the caretaker, and the animal was uninjured, sheriff’s officials said.
Wooten’s did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment. Likewise, representatives of the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Visitors who come for tours of the Everglades can also stop at Wooten’s Animal Sanctuary & Alligator Park. It lists two tigers, two lions, and undisclosed numbers of otters, turtles, crocodiles and alligators as part of the park.
In December, a man was badly injured by a tiger after putting his arm into the cat’s enclosure at the Naples Zoo, also in Collier County. The Malayan tiger named Eko was fatally shot by a deputy, the man was not charged, and his arm, initially slated for amputation, was reportedly saved.
On Tuesday, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said in its statement about the attack at Wooten’s, “We are having a hard time comprehending this happening again.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
