It wasn’t so long ago that the divide in public perception between “cute animals” and “dangerous animals,” seemed pretty wide.
No matter how impressive or majestic people considered larger animals like lions or tigers, they were a little too intimidating to be considered cute unless they were in plush toy form.
However, it seems that as more time has passed, the more opportunities people have to become exposed to these wild animals’ softer sides.
Tourist attractions such as wildlife sanctuaries where animals like big cats are rescued and treated like house pets have grown massively due to social media attention.
With celebrities amplifying these locations as fun, safe places, the threat to humans AND animals grows.
Katy Perry and the Kardashian sisters are among some of the biggest names to have supported these sanctuaries. But they seem ignorant to the consequences.
As one Arizona woman found out, celebrity endoresement doesn’t mean it’s suddenly not dangerous to approach one of these animals, beautiful as they may be.
Especially when the are specifically held in closed off habitats and safeguarded with fences, glass, and other means of getting too close.
It seems that when people encounter interesting animals nowadays, their first instinct is to try and get a photo with it.
Sure, safari photos are older than most of the people reading this, but it wasn’t always required to star in them yourself.
Nonetheless, that seemed to be what one unidentified woman had in mind when she caught sight of this jaguar at the Wildlife World Zoo.
As CNN reported , this attempted selfie brought at least some part of her over the barrier guarding the jaguar’s enclosure.
This was apparently too close for the jaguar’s comfort and it sunk its claws into her arm.
According to CNN , Adam Wilkerson witnessed the woman struggle in the jaguar’s grasp, but didn’t want to risk pulling her away and causing further damage.
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However, Wilkerson’s mother got the idea to shove a water bottle through the fence in an effort to distract the animal.
This seemed to work as the jaguar let go of the woman, who then collapsed in pain as other guests cared for her.
Wilkerson said there were no zoo employees in the area while this occurred.
Recalling situations like Harambe the gorilla that was shot and killed after a child entered its enclosement, people have been flooding social media with reactions.
Many citing that it wasn’t the animals fault at all, as it did not escape or cross its own boundaries.
Others used this as yet another cautionary tale.
Barriers are put in place for the safety of both the animals and the visitors.
After a hospital visit, the woman would later return to the zoo to accept responsibility for the incident.
According to Kristy Morcum, who spoke on her behalf, the woman apologized and “feels horrible about the bad publicity the zoo is getting regarding the incident.”
Wildlife World Zoo would tweet out its own report of the incident, saying that the jaguar was never out of its enclosure.
The report also included a caption asking guests to understand why the barriers exist between the guests and the zoo’s animals.
After all, this is not the first time that this jaguar had an encounter with a visitor.
According to the zoo’s director, Mickie Ollson, she had once scratched another person who also crossed the barrier.
Neither case was determined to be the animal’s fault.
It is likely for this reason that the zoo received messages pleading not to put the jaguar down or otherwise punish her.
And so, to reassure these concerned Twitter users, the zoo sent out another tweet assuring the public that no harm would come to the jaguar as a result of the incident.
h/t: CNN
