Florida Man Hospitalized After Sticking Arm In Jaguar Enclosure

A jaguar attacked a Florida man after he reportedly put his arm into the animal's enclosure at a zoo Wednesday (July 28), according to WJXT.

Reporters said a park visitor in his 20s provoked some big cats at Jacksonville Zoo before jumping over a safety barrier and into the "Range of the Jaguar" exhibit. The man was trying to get the attention of the animals when he stuck his arm inside the pen, and that's when a jaguar came over and swiped him.

“This is an individual that wasn’t using his head,” deputy zoo director Dan Maloney told the outlet. “He stuck his hand in through the mesh that separates the jaguars from the outside.”

The man, who remains unidentified, was rushed to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, WJXT learned. Another guest claimed she saw employees cleaning up a trail of blood after the man was carried away with his injury.

Maloney said the risky visitor was lucky the jaguar didn't latch on, otherwise, “it would have been a very different story.”

This was the only time someone has been hurt in the 11 years since the jaguar exhibit opened at Jacksonville Zoo, according to officials. Staff urged zoogoers not to jump over the barriers and engage the animals for their safety.