When Animals Attack: Big Cats

Incidents in 2003    Incidents in 2002    Incidents in 2001    Incidents in 2000    Incidents in 1999    Incidents in 1998    Incidents in 1997    Incidents in 1996    Incidents in 1995-1990

The following is a partial listing of incidents involving captive big cats since 1990. These incidents have resulted in the killing of 87 big cats, 53 human deaths, and more than 180 human injuries. Contact PETA for documentation.

1999:

December 4, 1999/Williamsville, Mo.: A 5-year-old boy required surgery after he was mauled by a "pet" lion kept chained in a neighbor’s yard. The animal inflicted puncture wounds to the boy’s throat and head. The lion was killed.

November 18, 1999/China: Four tigers mauled to death a driver at a safari park after he exited his bus to make a repair. Previous attacks at the 4-year-old park had been reported.

October 30, 1999/Buffalo, N.Y.: A keeper at the Buffalo Zoo was bit and clawed by a leopard.

October 25, 1999/Great Plains, S.D.: A 4-year-old girl was injured after she was clawed by an African lynx at the Great Plains Zoo. The girl and her parents had wandered into a staff area of the zoo.

October 21, 1999/Evansville, Ind.: A zookeeper at the Mesker Park Zoo was mauled by a lion who severely injured his leg and arm.

August 3, 1999/Alor Star, Malaysia: A lion with a circus slashed and deeply cut a handler’s hand as he escaped from his cage. The lion was recaptured three hours later.

June 26, 1999/Sterling, Kan.: A woman with a group of Boy Scouts visiting Safari Zoological Park was attacked by a caged tiger when she put her hand on the cage.

June 7, 1999/Yorktown, Texas: A 9-year-old girl was killed when her stepfather’s "pet" tiger grabbed her by the neck and dragged her into a water trough.

May 4, 1999/Spain: Tigers mauled to death an elderly German couple visiting a game park in Spain. After getting out of their car, three tigers attacked them both, causing fatal neck wounds.

April 10, 1999/Pearland, Texas: A tiger handler had to be airlifted to the hospital after being attacked by a tiger at a defunct roadside zoo. The tiger was killed.

March 31, 1999/Tyler, Texas: A woman’s arm was nearly severed by a tiger at a compound. A volunteer at the facility, she reached in to pet the tiger, when he attacked. Doctors were unsure whether they would be able to save her arm.

March 16, 1999/Colorado Springs, Colo.: A 6-year-old boy was severely injured by a leopard at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo after he climbed over a rope to get a closer look at the animal. Three months earlier, a woman was scratched by a tiger at the zoo after sticking her hand into his cage.

February 28, 1999/Fort Wayne, Ind.: A tiger mauled an employee of the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo while she was cleaning the cage, causing injuries to her chest, neck and back.

January 27, 1999/Jackson Township, N.J.: Police shot and killed a 431-pound tiger who escaped from the Tigers Only Preservation Society, only a few hundred yards from a subdivision.

January 21, 1999/Bangkok, Thailand: Four tigers attacked and killed their keeper at a private zoo. The zoo is attached to a restaurant and the animals are used to attract customers.

January 7, 1999/Wichita, Kan.: A 5-month-old tiger cub bit the throat of a 5-year-old child. The tiger belonged to Safari Zoological Park, a roadside zoo that hauls animals around to schools, festivals, and store promotions. The tiger was killed the next day.

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