Big cats look beautiful and soft, but they certainly should not be treated like domestic kitties, even if they are kept in a zoo. On Saturday, a woman, who seemed to have forgotten that jaguars are dangerous predators, was at the Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield Park, Arizona, when she was attacked by a female black jaguar while attempting to take a selfie with the animal. She had stepped over a barrier into the big cat’s enclosure, when it swiped through the fencing and left deep gashes on her arms.
Photo: ben landy/Shutterstock
Zoo Jaguar Attacks Woman After She Crossed Barrier for a Selfie
Adam Wilkerson, a witness who captured the aftermath of the incident on video, told Fox News that he saw the woman “up against the fence with her arm caught in the jaguar’s claws.” He added that in an attempt to help, his mother grabbed her water bottle and threw it into the jaguar’s cage to distract it. “When my mom put the water bottle through the gate,” he said, “the jaguar let go of the girl. And we pulled the girl back and she collapsed.”
A Phoenix woman suffers from injuries after a black jaguar swiped at her while she was taking a selfie. @TVMarci has the story. https://t.co/1ruDM6Q9U3 pic.twitter.com/80ksjVYNMu
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 10, 2019
According to Good Morning America, the woman returned to the zoo after the attack and admitted she was at fault.
Although paramedics were called, the woman’s injuries were not life-threatening. The jaguar will not be put down as a result of the attack. 
H/T: BBC