Wildlife lovers across the globe flock to zoos annually to catch a glimpse of their favourite animals in a safe and protected environment… but for some, this hasn’t been the case.
Feral instincts remain present in a number of these caged beasts, where even the glass screening and metal fencing can not contain their primal urges.
While some incidents have taken place in the privacy of the animal’s enclosure, several beasts have unleashed their fury in front of horrified children outside of their protective barriers as they bring their victims to the brink of death.
From dragging visitors into their lairs to pouncing out from their enclosures, a number of innocent zoo-goers have fallen prey to furious tigers, bears, and rhinos.
In one case, a man in Thailand was mauled by a tormented bear as it pulled him into its cage and began gnawing off chunks of his flesh.
And eight years ago, a Chinese woman was snatched by a ravenous tiger after stepping out of her car at a safari park near the Great Wall of China.
Parents, children, and the elderly, have been left haunted beyond imagination following their run-ins with seemingly tamed zoo creatures.
But it appears even the popular children’s attraction carries its own deadly dangers, with tales of brutal surprise attacks from caged animals springing up all over the globe.
Just two months ago, a man in Thailand was mauled by a tormented bear as it pulled him into its cage and began gnawing off chunks of his flesh
Husband mauled to death by tiger in front of wife and child
In 2017, a young Chinese man was killed by a tiger in front of his horrified wife and child after getting dragged into its zoo enclosure.
The incident occurred at the Youngor Wildlife Park in the city of Ningbo, about 125 miles south of Shanghai.
An onlooker took footage of the tiger dragging the man under some trees and sinking its teeth into his neck as two other big cats lurked behind.
Zoo visitors raised the alarm soon after he was attacked by the predator but it took zoo staff about an hour to grapple the man from the tiger’s firm grip, according to reports fro the time.
The tigers were eventually driven away by firecrackers and a water cannon, said a report in the Beijing Youth Daily, which added that the man was rushed to hospital but later died.
One tiger in the enclosure was shot dead by local forestry bureau staff.
A horrified witness said the tiger wouldn’t allow the man escape: ‘I saw the tiger mauling the person, whose face was covered with blood. Every time he sat up, the tiger pushed him down again.’
The reports said it was not clear how or why the man, whose wife and child had come to the park with him, had gotten into the tiger enclosure.
The man tries to sit up as the tiger sinks its teeth into upper body and he is floored by the beast as another tiger lurks behind
The man is dragged under some trees in the tiger enclosure by the ferocious animal
Zoo visitors raised the alarm soon after he was attacked by the predator but it took zoo staff about an hour to grapple the man from the tiger’s firm grip
Visitors and security staff were unable to help the man and could only watch as the tiger bit and mauled him
Enraged hippo attacks zookeeper in its enclosure
In June 2023, a furious hippo started charging at its zookeeper after he tried to break up its fight with another territorial bull in their enclosure.
Heart-stopping footage shows the man – who had entered the enclosure to feed the animal – scrambling out of the pen in a desperate bid to avoid a fatal attack at the Changsha Ecological Zoo in China’s Hunan province.
Amid the rush to run for his life, the zoo keeper slips over on the wet concrete surface entrance with the hippo ready to launch what could have been a devastating assault.
With the furious hippo baring its huge teeth in a threatening display, the man uses his arms and feet to prevent the hungry animal from closing in on him.
The hippo momentarily left its keeper alone as it continued to feed on greens but as the man stood back up, it charged at him again just as he was leaving the enclosure. This time, he was able to run to safety.
It was understood the zoo keeper had entered the enclosure to feed the animal before two hippos began attacking each other.
Footage shows the territorial bulls going at each other before the zoo keeper flies out of the pen.
The zoo keeper had tried to break up the fight by distracting one of the hippos – but was sent running when they turned their fury on him.
Astonishingly, the zookeeper escaped unharmed following the horror clash on Sunday, September 24.
This is the horrifying moment a hippo started baring its huge teeth as it closes in on its zoo keeper
The video shows the man trying to scramble out of the pen but he slips over and the hippo starts going for him
The zoo keeper uses his hands and feet to try and get the hippo to leave him alone as it feeds on greens
Man dragged around enclosure between a bear’s jaws like a rag doll
In November 2009, a 25-year-old man jumped in to a bear enclosure at Switzerland’s £20million Bern Bear Park.
Prowling around in its enclosure, the 40st brown bear quickly pounced, grabbing the man and dragging him across the enclosure like a rag doll.
Standing on its hind legs as it attacked, the towering predator clamped its jaws around the man’s shoulders with the helpless victim no match for the beast’s strength.
Astonishing images showed the man bleeding from the head, arms and left hand as he was tossed this way and that – all while emergency services scrambled into action.
But in a twist of fate, it was the bear that ended up fighting for its life – shot by police in order to save the man’s life.
He on the other hand, miraculously survived the ordeal, suffering non life-threatening injuries.
Dramatic photographs show the moment that Finn, the four-year-old European brown bear, realised he had an uninvited guest in the enclosure.
The bear quickly pounced on the man and used his paws to hold him tightly to the ground.
In another photo, one of the bear’s front limbs can be seen wrapped around the man’s torso as he also held him in its jaws.
Briton Sam Brookes, who was visiting the park with his girlfriend when the attack happened, said: ‘I looked in after I heard people screaming.
‘The bear was standing over him and throwing him back and forth.
‘Some yelled, ‘Get stones’ to throw at the bear. I think most people had an awful shock. I can still see it when I close my eyes.’
The man, who had mental health issues, had been waiting on the wall above the enclosure for around 10 minutes before he jumped around 13ft down into the pit.
The unnamed 25-year-old man pictured in the jaws of the bear at the zoo in Bern
The terrifying attack unfolded at Bern Bear Park in Switzerland on a Saturday afternoon in November 2009
The bear pinned the man that had jumped into his enclosure to the ground in November 2009
The man was quickly pounced on the bear and used its paws to hold him tightly to the ground
The man is seen lying on the floor of the enclosure during the bear attack
Dramatic photographs taken by a visitor captured the moment the brown bear realised he had an uninvited guest in his enclosure
Finn, lying tranquillised under medical observation in his enclosure in Bern
Panda traps keeper in its cage before pinning her down and attacking
In September last year, a panda launched a terrifying attack on a female zookeeper after trapping her inside its cage at a Chinese zoo.
The panda, named Ding Ding, in footage can be seen chasing the keeper, before pinning her down and biting her.
The attack took place at Chongqing Zoo in the city of the same name in south-western China just after 9am on September 19.
The shocking clip first shows the keeper trying to escape the enclosure but the panda throws its weight behind the door, forcing her to run back inside.
The panda then runs after the zookeeper who tries to keep the animal at bay by putting her hands on its shoulders.
But the panda surges forward, and eventually swipes her off her feet and pounces on top of her.
It appears to be biting the terrified keeper on the arm as she tries to push it away.
She eventually managed to run for the door while the panda was distracted.
The attack shocked visitors at the zoo who could be heard screaming as it unfolded.
Chongqing Zoo has since promised to put safety measures in place to ensure a similar incident does not happen again.
A zoo spokesman said the keeper’s condition was not serious but did not elaborate.
Ding Ding, round one! Panda attacks female zookeeper after trapping her inside its cage
The video first shows the keeper trying to get out of the enclosure but the panda throws its weight behind the door, forcing her to run back inside
The panda appears to be biting the terrified keeper on the arm as she tries to push it away
Man strips naked and jumps into lion pen to be mauled by two beasts
A 20-year-old man broke into a lion enclosure in a Chilean zoo in 2016 and stripped naked before jumping into the middle, horrifying other witnesses.
Once the man, named Franco Luis Ferrada Roman was inside, two lions pounced on him and began to ‘play’ with his body as other zookeepers attempted to intervene.
The two African lions were shot dead in order to save the man’s life as there were no fast-acting tranquilisers available at the time, the zoo director said.
Roman was dashed to hospital for treatment and was said to be in grave condition after suffering several injuries to his head and pelvic area.
According to reports at the time, a suicide note was discovered in the pocket of the young man.
The note reportedly made allusions to the apocalypse as being a reason for his attempt to take his life.
One witness, Cynthia Vasquez, told Chilean radio station Bio Bio that the security personnel at the zoo were slow to react and that the animals did not attack the man as soon as he entered the enclosure.
‘He entered the enclosure from above and the lions started to play with him, and then after they attacked him,’ she said.
She also said the man was ‘shouting things about Jesus’.
She criticised the actions of the security personal, saying ‘first they threw water, evacuated the people and only later did they fire shots’.
A 20-year-old man took off his clothes and broke into a lion enclosure at Santiago zoo Saturday, where he was mauled by lions
Zoo keepers killed two lions to save the man, who was gravely injured in the incident
A suicide note was reported to have been found in his clothing
Two ‘Kung Fu Pandas’ maul animal tamer in front of horrified guests
A double-act of pandas attacked a zookeeper in front of screaming onlookers at Chongqing Zoo, China, in April last year.
Footage of the ordeal shows the pandas running towards the zookeeper as she appears with snacks, with one of them biting her ankles before another knocks her to the ground.
Both animals climb over the terrified zookeeper and quickly bury her underneath them as they paw at her head.
The helpless worker rolls from side to side, hoping to get the massive pandas off, but only one of them runs away, while the other holds onto her and gnaws at her midriff in front of hundreds of screaming visitors.
When she finally manages to get up, the zookeeper has a rip in her shirt as well as scratch marks on her shoulder.
A colleague ran out to help the stricken woman, but he was quickly chased by the animal himself.
The clip ends with both workers scrambling to safety in the enclosure as the panda, apparently a juvenile, gives chase.
According to reports, the zookeeper only sustained minor injuries in the attack.
The pandas paw at the zookeeper’s head and appear to nibble at her neck, arms and legs
But only one of the panas runs away, while the other holds onto her and gnaws at her midriff in front of hundreds screaming visitors
The terrified woman was buried underneath the two giant pandas who were gnawing at her
According to reports, the zookeeper only sustained minor injuries in the attack
Crocodile clamps jaws around zookeeper’s head
Horrific footage from 2017 captured the moment a crocodile bit a zookeeper’s head before viciously thrashing him from side to side while he screamed in agony.
The video shows a man performing at one of Thailand’s famed crocodile shows for a small group of people on the tourist island of Ko Samui.
In the video, the zookeeper kneels before a crocodile which is lying in wait with its jaw wide open.
The crocodile remains perfectly still as the zookeeper performs his routine with two wooden sticks for the audience.
During the routine he waves the stick around the crocodile’s open mouth and momentarily pokes it inside.
The daredevil decides to raise the stakes by placing the sticks to one side and shoving his entire head inside the motionless crocodile’s mouth.
He holds his position for ten seconds before the crocodile suddenly snaps down on his head and violently thrashes him around.
The man lets out a horrifying scream as the audience watches in shock.
He is left on the ground reeling from his injuries as the crocodile slides back into the water.
Footage shows the moment a crocodile bit a zookeeper’s head before viciously thrashing him from side to side while he screamed in agony
The man places his head inside the crocodile before it suddenly snaps down on his head and violently thrashes him around
The crocodile violently thrashes the man from side to side while he screams in agony
Woman eaten alive and another gravely injured by tiger at safari park
A woman was eaten alive and another seriously injured after they jumped out of a car in a tiger enclosure at a Chinese safari park in July 2016.
Dramatic video footage captures the middle-aged woman flouting the warnings by getting out of the car, and she was killed instantly after she followed the younger woman out of the car at the Badaling Wildlife World, near the Great Wall of China.
Both had ignored repeated warnings to stay inside the vehicle, according to local media.
Sohu reported at the time that the family – one older woman, a younger woman, a child and a man – were in the park, just over an hour north-west of Beijing.
The younger woman and the man were understood to have had an argument, at which point she stormed out of the car, reported Chinese media.
The older woman then followed her out – and was instantly attacked by the Siberian tiger.
The man is also understood to have tried to rescue his family members, while the child stayed in the car.
The 6,000 acre park, which allows people to either drive themselves or join a tour, tells people not to leave their vehicles at any point.
The family were eventually rescued by Badaling’s staff, but there was nothing that could be done for the older woman.
The younger woman was seriously injured, an official confirmed.
The woman gets out of the car and walks around to the other side after having a fight with a man inside the vehicle
As she remonstrates further, a huge tiger is ready to pounce behind her at the Badaling Wildlife World
The woman is dragged tot he floor where she is mauled by the big cat, sustaining serious injuries
But an older woman is mauled to death after she runs out of the car to help the woman
Angry rhino flips a car at a German safari park
A rhinoceros at the German safari Serengeti Park launched a violent attack on an animal keeper in her car in 2019.
A visitor to the park was left stunned when they watched and filmed the encounter, which saw the 30-year-old rhino bull, named Kusini, slam its horns and body into the vehicle before rolling it over three times.
The zookeeper had been driving the small hatchback painted with black and white stripes through the park and emerged mostly unscathed from the attack.
It was unclear what enraged the wild animal, who had been living in the park for 18 months at the time and was still acclimating to its new surroundings.
The 30-year-old rhino flipped a car three times in 2019
Whale scalps instructor at SeaWorld in front of holidaymakers
In one of the most shocking cases, whale instructor Dawn Brancheau was hauled underwater and thrashed around during a performance at SeaWolrd in Orlando in February 2010.
The 40-year-old was grabbed by her long ponytail by killer whale Tilikum before he swung her into is mouth in front of horrified onlookers.
Staff at the popular Florida attraction desperately attempted to tame the orca as guests were ushered out of the arena, but Brancheau had died by the time her body was retrieved.
An autopsy revealed she died of blunt force trauma to the head, neck and torso, with part of her scalp ‘forcibly torn from the head’.
Dawn Brancheau was filmed feeding the killer whales just moments before she was attacked and killed
The killer whale approached Dawn Brancheau during a performance, but just seconds later she was dragged underneath the water
An autopsy report showed that Mrs Brancheau died from ‘multiple traumatic injuries and drowning’
Killer whales swim in tanks at the SeaWorld park in Orlando, Florida. The ‘Believe’ show plays up to three times a day in a stadium that can hold more than 5,000 people.
Temple visitor has chunk of armpit torn out by bear
Niaphum Promratee, 36, had been with four friends when he visited a temple that houses boars and a bear in rural Phetchabun province, Thailand.
The man had been leaning against a wall that was surrounding the enclosure while dangling bowls of rice on ropes to the creature.
Horrifying footage captured the moment Promratee was dragged in to the enclosure when the bear, named Bing, stood up on its legs and pulled him towards the ground.
The ferocious beast managed to knock the man unconscious before biting a chunk from his armpit.
His friends hit the bear with poles and threw cold water at it, to no avail.
The enraged animal continued to bite and scratch Promratee for almost a minute before it started dragging him across the dusty enclosure.
One of Naiphum’s group ran into the enclosure and battered the bear in its cage with a pole while friends focused on a rescue.
Emergency services arrived just after 11am local time and rushed the bloodied man to hospital, where he spent time recovering.
Naiphum’s visit to a Thai monastery took a turn for the worse when Bing the bear attacked
Naiphum was pulled down into the enclosure and mauled by the 250kg predator
As he lay bleeding, Naiphum’s group tried to scare the bear off with a large metal pole
Naiphum is quickly helped away from the scene after the group distracted Bing the bear
His friends tried to beat off the bear with a pole before diving into to rescue him
Woman gnawed on by raging polar bear at a Berlin zoo
In Spring 2009, the buzz of excitement at Berlin Zoo was abruptly interrupted by cries of panic and a loud splash as something dropped into the moat within the polar bear enclosure.
To the shock of onlookers that was the sound of a 32-year-old woman who was now inside the exhibit and swimming towards the polar bears.
It was feeding time and the bears drew huge crowds as eager spectators gathered around the enclosure to catch a glimpse of the arctic beasts.
However – so dangerous are the predators – that even zookeepers don’t enter the paddock during this time.
But one woman scaled the three foot perimeter wall and jumped into the icy water below.
While most of the bears were too distracted by their meal one of the bears did spot the enclosure’s visitor and made its way towards her before lunging in the woman’s direction.
Incredible photographs captured the bear as it pounced on the woman, biting the back of her neck, with the pain of the predator’s bite visible on her contorted face.
Witnesses, including families with small children, were shocked to see what was unfolding in front of their eyes with many believing they were about to see a person mauled to death.
Thankfully before a tragedy could occur the woman started a frantic rush to escape the enclosure.
At a steep wall separating the bears from the viewing public she was met by zoo keepers who desperately flung life rings towards the woman while others threw meat and prodded the bears to leave the woman alone.
Visitors fun day out at the zoo would soon take a nightmarish turn after a woman scaled the three foot perimeter wall and jumped into the icy water below and swimming towards the bears
Incredible photographs captured the bear as it pounced on the woman, biting the back of her neck, with the pain of the predator’s bite visible on her contorted face
As the woman tries to escape her predicament one of the bear’s pulls her back into the water
At a steep wall separating the bears from the viewing public she was met by zoo keepers who desperately flung life rings towards the woman while others threw meat and prodded the bears to leave the woman alone
The unnamed woman was rushed to a nearby hospital with wounds to her arms, hips, back and legs but according to zookeepers she was lucky to escape with her life