Boy’s Hand Torn By Tiger: Zoo Animal Tears Hand Off Boy Because Father Ignored Warning Signs [Video]

A child feeding a tiger at the zoo turned violent when the boy’s hand was suddenly torn off.

While visiting a zoo in Cascaval, Brazil, an 11-year-old boy had his hand ripped off by a tiger he was allegedly feeding meat to through enclosure bars. In spite of glaring warning signs, the father encouraged his son to get as close as he could and by climbing over the barricade fence. When the tiger tries grabbing the meat from the child’s hand, he tears his hand off instead. Just moments prior to that he was seen stroking the tiger.

The whole incident happened in front of the boy’s 3-year-old brother, Daily Mail reports.

Witnesses say the 11-year-old boy was crying that he couldn’t feel his arm, and that he thought he was going to die. It was seen dangling after the mauling.

“I’m going to die, I can’t feel my arm,” the boy cried following the attack.

A video released on LiveLeak shows the boy being lifted back over the protective barricade. Ricardo Espindola, a music teacher, assisted the father and waited with him and the injured boy until paramedics arrived. He recalls how it played out:

“He was giving the tiger pieces of food, meat and stroking it. I finished looking at the animals, left then heard the screams.

“I went down and saw the father running with the boy with his arm hanging. I called the ambulance.

“He was in shock, talking nonsense, talking that he was going to die.”

[Warning: Video contains graphic content]

Paramedics arrived on the scene and rushed him to the hospital. According to the report, the young boy’s arm had to be partially amputated.

Zookeepers at the Brazilian zoo claim that the tiger, named “Hu,” is “one of the sweetest” animals they have.

It’s a mystery why the father would allow his son to cross a dangerous boundary to touch and feed the tiger. These types of animals are wild by nature and are born to be aggressive predators. The boy in this story is lucky that it was just his hand the tiger tore off. He could have been mauled much worse with the result being deadly.

Warning signs are something to adhere to while visiting a zoo or any other wild animal sanctuary. The animals may seem docile and non-threatening at times, but they’re not to be underestimated. When a tiger tears the hand off a boy, hopefully that stresses the importance of keeping a safe distance away from the animal’s space.

[Image via Commons Wikimedia]