Animals

A man stuck his hand in a jaguar pen at a Florida zoo, taunting the cat. He got clawed.

By María Luisa Paúl
July 30, 2021 at 9:52 p.m. EDT

In his 21 years at the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, Capt. Eric Prosswimmer said he had never responded to an animal incident taking place in the zoo — that is, until Wednesday, when a man was injured after reportedly sticking his arm inside the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens’ jaguar enclosure.

Prosswimmer, a public information officer, said authorities had transported the unnamed individual — who did not sustain life-threatening injuries — to the hospital after receiving a call around 4:30 p.m.

What led to this unusual event was a too-close encounter with Harry, the zoo’s 12-year-old jaguar, the Florida Times-Union reported.

The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens did not respond to requests for comment from The Washington Post. However, Kelly Rouillard, the zoo’s marketing director, told the local news outlets that the man had climbed over the waist-high safety barrier that separates visitors from the animals — then made “a foolish decision” to put his hand through the fence and taunt the wild cat.

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By María Paúl
María Luisa Paúl is a reporter on the General Assignment Desk. Before joining The Washington Post's 2021 summer intern class, she served as talent and inclusion director at Notre Dame's student newspaper, the Observer, and interned at the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald as a bilingual reporter. Twitter https://twitter.com/marialuisapaulr