Woman nearly bitten by tiger after hopping fence at zoo, sticking her hand in pen

BRIDGETON, N.J. (KYW) - Police in New Jersey are looking for a woman who nearly got bitten by a tiger at a zoo after she jumped over a fence and stuck her hand in the animal’s pen.

Video posted by Bridgeton Police shows a woman nearly get bitten by a Bengal tiger after she allegedly jumped over a wooden safety fence and stuck her hand through the tiger’s wire enclosure. The incident happened Sunday afternoon at the Cohanzick Zoo.

“A visitor decided to climb our safety visitor fence and attempt to pet the tiger, or we believe that what’s the attempt was,” said John Medica, director of recreation and public affairs for the City of Bridgeton. “I was horrified, honestly.”

The woman jumped back over the safety fence after the tiger put both paws on the wire enclosure.

“It was just very careless, a very careless action, and I hope that individual recognizes how lucky they were to still have all of their limbs,” Medica said.

Zoo officials say the woman tried to do the same thing at the nearby bear exhibit, but she was stopped by other visitors before she could get over the safety fence.

“This is a unique zoo where you get to go closer [to the animals] than any other zoo... but you can’t take liberties with that,” said animal keeper Avery Menear.

Menear says she’s frustrated by the incident.

“I hurt for these guys [the tigers] because they get really frustrated as well when this happens. They could seriously hurt someone,” she said.

Mahesha and Rishi are the tiger brothers at the zoo, which they have called home since 2016.

With visitors looking on Wednesday afternoon, Menear gave Mahesha a little treat. She reminds people the tigers may look cute, but they are still wild animals. It’s imperative to respect their space.

Zoo officials say they are evaluating how the zoo operates to see if any changes need to be made following the incident. They already have signs up telling visitors it is against a city ordinance to climb any fences at the zoo.

Police say they are following up on several tips of a possible identity for the woman seen in the video. Still, anyone with information on the incident is asked to call them.