16 year old mauled by tiger at Dublin Zoo

Teenager mauled by zoo tiger

10.56AM, Wed Jul 12 2006

A teenage girl has been savaged by a rare tiger in a zoo after climbing two fences and sticking her arm into its enclosure. (Picture: dublinzoo.ie)

The 19-year-old, who it is believed had been drinking, climbed a solid 6ft timber barrier and then over a smaller 4ft wall before pushing her way through dense vegetation.

She then put her arm through a 20ft high wire mesh fence where two Amur Siberian tigers were resting.

Parents and children looked on in horror as the tiger lunged at her and grabbed her arm trying to pull her through the fence.

She was taken to James Connolly Memorial Hospital where her condition was described as stable.

Leo Oosterweghel, director of Dublin Zoo, said the tigers, which can grow up to 3.5m in length, reacted as they would in the wild.

"The tigers obviously reacted the way tigers would, they are wild animals," he said.

Mr Oosterweghel said the tigers would not be destroyed.

"They are beautiful animals and this was a natural reaction for the tigers if someone sticks their hand through the mesh," he said.

16-year-old attacked by tiger in Dublin Zoo

12 July 2006 13:43

A 16-year-old girl is being treated in hospital for injuries she received after being attacked by a tiger at Dublin Zoo yesterday afternoon.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio, the director of Dublin Zoo, Leo Oosterweghel, said the girl and another man scaled two fences, one of which was 2m high, to reach the Siberian tiger enclosure.

The girl then put her hand through the wire mesh of a third protective fence.

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The tiger ripped into her limb causing significant injury. She is now said to be in a stable condition in hospital.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0712/zoo.html

Tiger mauls woman at zooFrom correspondents in Dublin

July 12, 2006 09:44pm

Article from: ReutersFont size: + -

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A YOUNG woman was recovering in hospital after being mauled by a tiger at Dublin Zoo.

The woman and a man, believed to be in their late teens or early 20s, scaled several safety barriers in an attempt to reach three Siberian tigers in their compound, and finally reached a heavy-mesh fence next to the animals.

"She pushed her hand through and the tiger reacted as any tiger would and bit her," a zoo spokeswoman said.

After receiving first aid, the woman was taken to hospital by ambulance and underwent emergency surgery on her arm.

"I think she was quite lucky to be able to pull back because normally tigers hold on," said zoo director Leo Oosterweghel.

The couple was carrying alcohol in soft drink bottles, "so we can make the assumption their judgment was impaired," he said.

Dublin zoo, founded in 1830, was briefly famous in the 1920s for supplying Leo the lion, who roared at the start of every Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film.

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,19773243-5005361,00.html

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