15 Times People Have Fallen Into Zoo Exhibits

9. Father-to-Be Is So Obsessed With Tigers, He Jumps In With Them

In 2014, a man was mauled to death by a white tiger at the National Zoological Park in New Delhi, India. 20-year-old Maqsood Khan appeared to fall into the moat of a tiger enclosure, but it turned out that he had actually jumped in of his own volition. His family said that he had lost his job four months ago and had become obsessed with tigers after a random trip to the zoo a few months prior. After that, he would often slip out to go watch the big cats at the zoo even when he told people he was out job-hunting. It’s thought that he had mental problems. According to the India Times, “He sat frightened inside the moat for about 10 minutes before Vijay, the tiger, attacked him.” Witnesses say more could’ve been done to save his life. Onlookers hurled stones at Vijay to try and distract the tiger, but to no avail. At the time of his death, his wife was seven months pregnant.

8. Killer Whale’s First Victim Fell Into His Tank

In British Colombia, Canada, there was once a Canadian version of SeaWorld called “SeaLand of the Pacific,” and in 1991, one of SeaLand’s trainers was killed by an orca whale named “Tilikum.” On February 21, 1991, 20-year-old Keltie Byrne fell into a pool that contained three orcas. Tilikum pulled her to the bottom of the water enclosure, and she drowned. It took SeaLand employees two hours to recover her body from the orcas. Eyewitness Nadine Kallen told CNN, “She tried to get back out, and the other girl tried to pull her up, but the whale grabbed her back foot and pulled her under… And then the whales — they bounced her around the pool a whole bunch of times, and she was screaming for help.” The coroner determined she had died as a result of “forced submersion by orca (killer) whales.” She was the first of three victims Tilikum would claim…

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