A zoo story

It takes all kinds to hit the headlines while visiting the zoo. There have been several cases of visitors, inebriated or otherwise, climbing over the fence to test their fate against the carnivores. In the latest zoo story, a woman who was attacked by a jaguar at an Arizona zoo. She apologised for the incident. The woman returned to the Wildlife World Zoo following the attack and said she "feels horrible about the bad publicity the zoo is getting regarding the incident". The woman, reportedly, apologised and admitted fault. The zoo, citing witness accounts, said the woman crossed over a barrier to get a photo and was attacked by a female jaguar. The woman was injured and required medical attention, according to the fire department. "The visitor sustained non-life threatening injuries to her arm from one of our female jaguars. At the request of the family, paramedics were called. At no time was the animal out of its enclosure. Please understand why barriers are put in place. Sending prayers to the family tonight," the zoo tweeted. The woman, who is in her 30s, was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive. Citing the fire department, the affiliate said the woman was trying to take a selfie near the fence of the jaguar enclosure when the animal reached out and attacked her arm. A witness described the horrifying attack. Adam Wilkerson said when someone came running around the corner yelling for help. "Without thinking, I had no idea what I was going to see, I just ran over there and I saw the other girl up against the fence with her arm caught in the jaguar's claws," he said. Wilkerson said he was standing behind the woman, but didn't want to pull her off. "I could see the claws in her actual flesh," he said. In an effort to distract the jaguar, Wilkerson said, his mother ran up behind him and shoved her water bottle through the cage. The bottle distracted the jaguar, and it let go of the victim. "She's doing OK. But her arm is bad," an employee said. The employee also said the woman's arm had been under pressure. Wilkerson did not see the actual attack and could not comment on how the victim got so close to the animal. Wildlife World Zoo tweeted that the jaguar would not be put down as a result of the incident. "We can promise you nothing will happen to our jaguar," the zoo said. "She's a wild animal and there were proper barriers in place to keep our guests safe, not a wild animal's fault when barriers are crossed. Still sending prayers to her and her family." If anything, the incident was totally avoidable.