7 Horrifying Zoo Encounters What Really Happened

Zoos give us the chance to see some amazing animals from up close. But

just like in the good old Jurassic Park movies, if you put a bunch of humans

next to a bunch of dangerous predators, sooner or later, somebody’s going

to have a scary encounter or even worse: get hurt.

In some of the stories on today’s list, no one–– including the animals —

were harmed. However, some of the events ended in an unspeakable

tragedy.

So strap yourselves in and let’s take a look at some of these terrifying

encounters.

Tiger Attack on Ms Zhao

In July 2016, a woman whose name was reported simply as “Ms Zhao” was

attacked at the Badaling Wildlife World animal park near Beijing, China.

She was driving through the tiger enclosure (which is a permitted activity at

the zoo), when she decided to get out of the car and walk around to the

other side. It’s not clear whether she wanted to switch seats or do

something else, but when she reached the other side of the car, a Siberian

tiger pounced out of nowhere and dragged her into the bushes. Horrifying

footage captured the moment Ms. Zhao was carried away and quickly

followed by her mother and daughter who ran to her rescue. Ms. Zhao

survived the tragic incident but had reportedly been left disabled. Her

mother however was not so lucky and was killed by a second tiger, while

her daughter managed to escape alive. Ms. Zhao is now demanding

$305,500 compensation from the park.

Gu Gu The Biting Panda Panda

Pandas are often described as cute, fat, and cuddly, but that doesn’t mean

they like it when people try to give them hugs. Dramacool. Gu, the giant 18-year-old

male panda, who resides at the Beijing Zoo, is renowned for biting people

who enter his enclosure and has made international headlines for three

terrifying attacks in just four years. In September 2006, a drunk Chinese

woman jumped Gu Gu’s enclosure and tried to give him a hug. The large

male panda responded by biting and seriously injuring her. Told you:

pandas don’t like hugs. The second incident was in October the following

year when Gu Gu launched a vicious four-minute attack on a boy, who had

climbed into the enclosure out of curiosity. The 15-year-old was reportedly

so injured that his bones were showing and chunks of flesh were left

behind in the ambulance. And Gu Gu struck yet again in 2019, (this time

making international headlines) when he attacked a zoo visitor who climbed

into his pen to retrieve a toy his son had dropped. This time, zoo workers

had to use tools to pry Gu Gu’s jaws apart. Moral of the story is? Never try to

hug a panda–– you’ve been warned, kids

Baby Elephant Attacks Instructor

While elephants are typically seen as peaceful creatures, this young

The 2-year-old elephant decided to turn on his instructor. 40-year-old

Zookeeper Lucy Melo was teaching the two-year-old male Asian elephant

Pathi Harn how to wash in a barn, when things turned sideways.

Lucy said she’d asked him for a simple behavior, but he didn’t quite obey.

When she asked him to correct his behavior, she sensed a behavioral

change in the juvenile elephant. On her way out, the elephant raised his

trunk and pinned her against the wall. With the elephant’s trunk on her

chest, the zookeeper could hardly breathe, let alone give him the order to

stop. Luckily, Lucy’s co-workers saw the incident and quickly intervened.

She was taken to intensive care right away and thankfully. she completely

recovered from her injuries. What a close call that was!

Tilikum The Murderous Killer Whale

This next story doesn’t end as well as our previous one and had a tragic

ending for the instructor. A 12,000-pound killer whale named Tilikum was

captured in 1983 and sent to Sealand of the Pacific in British Columbia,

Canada, where he was professionally trained. However, no handlers had

ever been authorized to enter the water with him due to his sheer size.

Unfortunately, in 1991 a young trainer named Keltie Byrne fell into Tilikum’s

tank, where he and two other whales unknowingly played with the instructor

until she drowned. Tilikum was later transferred to SeaWorld Orlando,

where he lived without incident until July 6, 1999, when a SeaWorld guest

named Daniel Dukes snuck into his tank after the park closed. Dukes’

the battered corpse was found on Tilikum’s back a day later. 11 years later,

trainer Dawn Brancheau was working with Tilikum after a stage show,

when the orca pulled her into the water. Other trainers attempted to distract

the whale’s attention from Brancheau but without any success-– the trainer

died from several injuries and drowning. Tilikum continues to perform to

this day.

Santino, The Rock-Throwing Chimp

Fun as they may seem, chimpanzees can be pretty devious little apes.

Take Santino, for example. This ultra-moody ape lives in Sweden’s Furuvik

Zoo, and whenever guests show up at his exhibit, he starts throwing rocks

in their direction. Fortunately, the crowds are protected by a five-foot-tall

fence, a 30-foot gap, and a watery moat, but Santino does manage to

bruise a guest or two once in a while. However, what makes Santino really

scary is his ability to plan trouble ahead. In 2009, researchers revealed that

Santino woke up each morning to fish stones out of his moat and build little

piles of rocks before his guests would arrive. The researchers also noticed

that the Ape had been trying to upgrade his ammo by making throwing

discs out of concrete in his enclosure. Zookeepers eventually castrated the

chimp in the hopes that he’d chill out, but Santino continues to pile rocks

and now even fools his guests into dropping their guard before launching a

sneak attack. To be fair, castration probably just made him angrier. youtube

Melody the Tapir Attack

While Tapirs look as if someone had crossbred a pig with an anteater,

they’re actually related to horses and rhinos–– go figure. And while they

appear more silly than scary, these animals can turn quite aggressive,

especially when protecting their young. In 1998, Oklahoma Zookeeper

Morehead was going about her business when she came around to

feeding a Malayan tapir named Melody. When she slid Melody’s food

through a two-foot-wide door, she got a little too close to her two-month-old

calf. So Melody freaked out and went for the unsuspecting Zookeeper. The

Tapir dragged her into the cage and bit her arm into two pieces. Thanks to

her coworkers, Zookeeper Morehead was able to escape with her life, but

doctors weren’t able to save her arm.

Independence Day Lion Incident

The most horrifying incident on today’s list took place on one of America’s

biggest holidays in 1970, when three young Portlanders named Roger

Adams, Ken Bowers, and Michael Gaskell chose to celebrate by getting

drunk and picking up girls. Since they couldn’t get any girlfriends, they

decided to liven things up by breaking into the formerly known Washington

Park Zoo. As you might expect, the young gentlemen began pulling some

ridiculous stunts, such as Adams sitting at the edge of the grizzly bear

enclosure, taunting the animals. Bravened by liquid luck, Adams proceeded

to lower his legs into the lion’s exhibit while swinging them in midair–– big

mistake. Out of nowhere, a lioness seized Adams and dragged him into the

pit where she and another cat began tearing him to pieces. His friends went

for help, but unfortunately, it was too late and Adams was mauled to death.

But this wasn’t the end of their tragic tale. A few hours later, Bowers

returned to the zoo with his hunting rifle and killed the cats that were

responsible for his friend’s death. He managed to avoid the authorities for

two years but was eventually arrested in 1972 on unrelated charges.

Bowers was sentenced to three years of probation and was ordered to pay

a $1,200 fine

Wow, and that’s it for today’s tragic animal stories. Which of these Zoo

encounters do you think was the most horrifying? Let us know in the

comments below.