The transition from joy to terror can be swift, especially when it involves tourists and wild animals.
A recent incident saw a zookeeper mauled to death by lions while filming himself in an attempt to “impress his girlfriend”. The 44 year old, identified as F Iriskulov, was trying to corral three escaped lions at the Lion Park in Parkent, Uzbekistan.
His camera continued to record the horrifying event, capturing his screams. He was later declared dead, two of the lions were tranquilised, and the third was shot dead.
In light of this tragic event, we examine other fatal animal attacks caught on camera.
One such case involved a man with a self-proclaimed “obsession for tigers” who met a horrific end. Maqsood Khan, 22, climbed into the white tiger’s moat at New Delhi Zoo in 2014, where he was confronted by Vijay, a seven year old endangered tiger, reports the Mirror.
The ensuing horror was filmed by onlookers as Vijay observed the intruder for 15 minutes before things took a turn for the worse. Despite the crowd’s attempts to distract the tiger by shouting and throwing stones, the animal seized Maqsood by the neck and dragged him back to its enclosure, sealing his fate.
A witness described rushing towards the scene upon hearing screams, only to find Maqsood in the grip of the tiger’s jaws, “writhing badly in pain”.
It took a gruelling two hours and tremendous effort for the authorities to coax the tiger into another cage within the enclosure before they could recover Maqsood’s disfigured body following the lethal encounter. The government later blamed Maqsood for the tragedy, declaring that the fatal incident was a result of him overlooking warnings and finding himself in a tiger enclosure a “misadventure” fuelled by his “obsession for tigers”.
In an unrelated but equally horrific safari park incident, a family witnessed a Chinese woman being eaten alive by a tiger. The gruesome event occurred in 2016 when she stepped out of her car at a safari park to rescue her daughter.
Mrs Zhao heroically squared off against a Siberian tiger at Badaling Wildlife World near Beijing when the animal latched onto her daughter, Mei, dragging her away. Even with Mrs Zhao’s valiant attempts, she met a tragic end at the hands of another tiger.
Mei suffered severe injuries from the attack, and faced criticism for flouting park regulations by exiting the vehicle, endangering herself and her relatives. Captured on CCTV, the shocking sequence started with Mei leaving the car amidst a family disagreement, quickly followed by a covert tiger seizing her.
Her husband and mother emerged frantically to aid, while park personnel rushed over, but couldn’t save Mrs Zhao who succumbed to another lurking predator.
The wildlife park was temporarily closed for an investigation but later reopened without any fault found in its operations, despite the family’s legal action against the facility.
In a chilling incident not occurring within zoo confines, a couple’s final moments were captured in harrowing audio as they were attacked by a bear in the Alaskan wilderness.
Timothy Treadwell, self-dubbed ‘Grizzly Man’, and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard met a tragic end when they were mauled to death by a bear while camping. Timothy, who had spent 13 summers with wild brown bears, inadvertently recorded their last moments on his video camera in October 2003.
During the attack, Timothy’s desperate cries of “Get out here! I’m getting killed out here! ” were recorded, followed by Amie’s advice to “play dead” as she emerged from her tent to assist him. Despite her efforts, including hitting the bear with a frying pan, their screams ended abruptly as the recording stopped.
The aftermath was gruesome, with Tim’s disfigured head found near the site.
The bear responsible was subsequently killed, and a grim discovery of four bin bags containing human remains was made in its stomach.
