It is unclear what the man was attempting to do by gaining access to the enclosure but Police have apparently not ruled out suicide as a motive.
A man was killed by tigers at Copenhagen Zoo today after he scaled a fence and crossed a moat to gain access to the predators' enclosure. The victim, who was 21, was savaged by three tigers after he broke into the zoo in the Danish capital in the early hours. He was found dead surrounded by the Siberian tigers when staff arrived for work.
It is unclear why the man, who has not yet been identified, entered the enclosure but police have not ruled out suicide as a possible motive. Superintendent Lars Borg revealed that a post-mortem examination has shown the man was bitten on the thigh, chest, face and throat.
He said: 'We received an emergency call at about 7.30am that a person had been found lying in the tiger pen and that three tigers were surrounding that person. 'The tigers attacked him and killed him. It is likely that a bite to the throat was the primary reason for his death.
'He has been in the water and the animals must have seen that and attacked him.'
Police said the victim was not Danish but that he held a Denmark resident's permit. His nationality is unknown.
Detectives are now trawling through CCTV footage to try to exactly establish how the man accessed the enclosure. Steffen Straede, the zoo's chief executive, said psychologists have been called to talk to staff who found the body. He added that this is the first incident of its kind in the zoo's 152-year history and that he has no plans to review security. He said: 'If a person really wants to get in there, we cannot prevent it from happening.'
It is unclear why the man, who has not yet been identified, entered the enclosure but police have not ruled out suicide as a possible motive. Superintendent Lars Borg revealed that a post-mortem examination has shown the man was bitten on the thigh, chest, face and throat.
He said: 'We received an emergency call at about 7.30am that a person had been found lying in the tiger pen and that three tigers were surrounding that person. 'The tigers attacked him and killed him. It is likely that a bite to the throat was the primary reason for his death.
'He has been in the water and the animals must have seen that and attacked him.'
Police said the victim was not Danish but that he held a Denmark resident's permit. His nationality is unknown.
Detectives are now trawling through CCTV footage to try to exactly establish how the man accessed the enclosure. Steffen Straede, the zoo's chief executive, said psychologists have been called to talk to staff who found the body. He added that this is the first incident of its kind in the zoo's 152-year history and that he has no plans to review security. He said: 'If a person really wants to get in there, we cannot prevent it from happening.'
As someone who has worked as a zookeeper, this obviously hits quite close to home. I can't imagine how the keepers must feel. It is quite possible the tigers will have to be put down as a result. You really don't want these huge powerful cats developing a taste for human and more importantly you don't want the animals in your care viewing you as a potential threat.
It's a real shame but I'm not massively surprised at the result. Tigers just have pure killing instincts. I spoke to the head of the carnivore section at the zoo I used to work at earlier and he said he wasn't surprised either but he also interestingly thought if it had been a lion pride they might not have killed him.
Over to you guys...
EDIT: Having performed some Google fu I have identified another possible motive...
Perhaps the man wanted to prove his mighty martial arts prowess against a deadline opponent?
http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin1994-13.html
