Shock at the zoo: Man climbs into enclosure and wants to fight with rhino
Basel (Switzerland) - What was he thinking? A man broke into an enclosure at BaselZoo and tried to attack an armored rhinoceros. The incident ended harmlessly.
Perplexed faces at Basel Zoo. On Monday afternoon, a man overcame several barriers to get into the rhino enclosure and wanted to fight Puri, the bull weighing more than two tons, as first reportedby "Die Oberbadische".
The man was very lucky. Puri was merciful that day. The incident turned out badly. An animal keeper who had been brought in talked to the obviously confused man and persuaded him to leave the enclosure.
"Although there was contact between the man and rhino bull Puri, neither the man nor the animal was injured," a zoo spokeswoman told Blick.ch. According to the police, the man was "in a difficult life situation". He was admitted to a specialist hospital.
The enclosure is home to bull Puri, two rhinoceros cows, a pustel pig and a muntjac. Armored rhinos, sometimes also called Indian rhinos, are acutely threatened with extinction. Only a few hundred of these friendly pachyderms remain in the wild.
Incident in the rhino enclosure. Basel Zoo wants to take action
A very similar incident occurred at Basel Zoo back in 1990. A 29-year-old woman gained access to the outdoor enclosure and wanted to stroke a baby rhinoceros . With terrible consequences. The rhinoceros cow felt threatened and attacked her cub. The young woman died.
In 1995, a small child was attacked by a panther at the same zoo. The big cat reached out with its paw when the child was standing very close to the fence. The young victim had previously followed his father, who had climbed over the first barrier to get a better shot of the panther.
Meanwhile, it is still completely unclear how the man in the latest incident was able to scale all four barriers at the enclosure - wire mesh fence, plant border, water ditch and concrete wall - so easily. Switzerland's largest zoo wants to review its security concept.
The spokeswoman assures: "If any weaknesses are identified with regard to the current safety precautions, these will be rectified."