Video posted by the Bridgeton Police Department shows a woman inside the first layer of fencing at the Cohanzick Zoo. Police said she was
BRIDGETON, N.J. – A woman climbed the fence to the Bengal tiger enclosure at a New Jersey zoo over the weekend and was nearly bitten by the 500-pound tiger, a now-deleted video by local police shows.
On Tuesday, a video posted to the Bridgeton Police Department’s Facebook page showed a woman with long dark hair inside the tiger fencing at the Cohanzick Zoo. The woman wearing a dark top and white shorts was sticking her hand through the inner fencing as the tiger paced just inches in front of her.
Bridgeton Recreation Director John Medica told FOX Weather via email the incident happened on Sunday around 2 p.m.
The Cohanzick Zoo has two Bengal tigers, Rishi and Mahesha, brothers who came to the zoo as cubs. Medica said the tiger in the video is Mehesha.
The Department of Recreation learned of the video showing the encounter on Tuesday morning and could not explain why the police department deleted it 24 hours later.
Before the woman climbed back over the wooden fencing out of the enclosure, the tiger batted and attempted to bite at her hand. The original police department post about the incident said she was almost injured.
One of the brother Bengal tigers at the Cohanzick Zoo sits behind two layers of fencing and a sign that reads “DO NOT CLIMB THE FENCE.”
(Bridgeton Police Department)
A new post on the Bridgeton Police Department’s Facebook page shows one of the Bengal tigers lying in the enclosure and a sign outside the fence that reads, “DO NOT CLIMB OVER THE FENCE.”
FOX Weather’s calls to the Bridgeton Police Department about the video were not returned.