A tiger has been fatally shot by a deputy at a zoo in Florida after a cleaning worker was seriously injured after putting his arm through the fence in a bid to pet the animal.
Eko, an eight-year-old Malayan tiger, was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy at Naples Zoo, The Guardian reports.
Deputies were called to the zoo at around 6:30 PM, which was closed at the time, and found the animal with the worker's arm in its mouth, the Collier County Sheriff's Office said.
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"The first deputy on scene kicked the enclosure and tried to get the tiger to release the man’s arm from its mouth but the deputy was forced to shoot the animal," the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
"Preliminary information indicates that the man was either petting or feeding the animal, both of which are unauthorized and dangerous activities," the Collier county sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post.
It added that the third-party cleaning service which the man worked for is only responsible for cleaning restrooms and the gift shop, not the animal enclosures.
"Initial reports indicate that the tiger grabbed the man’s arm and pulled it into the enclosure after the man traversed an initial fence barrier and put his arm through the fencing of the tiger enclosure," the statement added.
The worker, a man in his 20s, was seriously injured and taken to a hospital following the ordeal.
After being shot, the tiger retreated into its enclosure and was sedated by a veterinarian so it could be safely examined, the sheriff's office said.
The man worked for a third-party cleaning service hired to clean restrooms and the gift shop and was not supposed to be in that area.
The cleaning service in question, notably, is in charge of maintaining restrooms and the gift shop area but does not have domain over animal enclosures.
The sheriff's office said it appeared the man was trying to pet or feed the tiger before the incident took place.
It appears the man "traversed an initial fence barrier and put his arm through the fencing of the tiger enclosure," before the tiger grabbed it, the sheriff's office said.
The Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission is also investigating the incident.
Malayan tigers have been categorized as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.
Fewer than 200 mature individuals remain in the wild, compared to the over 3,000 animals in the 1950s, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
