Chilling video captures cop killing tiger as it attacks screaming zoo worker
Graphic body camera video captured the moment a police officer shot and killed a tiger at a Florida zoo after it attacked a maintenance worker – who was heard screaming “I’m going to die!” in a chilling 911 call.
River Rosenquist, 26, now faces possible criminal charges for entering an unauthorized area at the Naples Zoo, where the tiger, named Eko, clamped its jaw on his hand, ABC News reported.
The worker, who works for a third-party contractor, was either trying to pet or feed the 8-year-old Malayan tiger Wednesday when it grabbed his arm and yanked him into the enclosure, according to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.
The distressing footage shows the bloodied Rosenquist screaming in agony as a deputy kicks the cage in a desperate attempt to get the beast to release the worker, The US Sun reported.
But after failing to scare Eko off, the deputy shoots the tiger, which retreats to the back of the enclosure and later dies.
Rosenquist was airlifted to Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers, where he was listed in fair condition, according to the US Sun.
In a recording of his 911 call posted online by the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, the worker is heard telling the dispatcher that he was sorry and afraid that he was about to die.
“I’m at the Naples Zoo! I’m being attacked by a tiger,” he shrieks in a high-pitched voice the dispatcher mistakes for a woman.
“I’m being attacked by a tiger! Help please! Please! Please! Please help! I don’t have much longer!” he yells as the dispatcher tells him rescuers are on their way.
“Please hurry! He’s going to rip my arm off!” Rosenquist continues in the call, which captured the sickening sounds of the attack.
“You gotta shoot it! You gotta shoot it, please!” he pleads in desperation as the deputy asks for a tranquilizer.
After he shoots the animal, someone is heard telling him: “We tried, man. We tried to get him off. You did the right thing.”
Jack Mulvena, the zoo’s president and CEO, wished Rosenquist well in his recovery.
“Our thoughts and well wishes are with River Rosenquist and his family and his doctors in what is going to be a very difficult recovery,” Mulvena told reporters Friday, CNN reported.
“It was a bad mistake, a bad decision, but we only wish him well in the recovery and I want to say that from the heart,” he added.
Mulvena also praised the deputy who made the quick decision to shoot Eko.
“Their deputy tried to distract the tiger first, as you saw from the footage, and faced a very difficult decision — and we support that decision,” he said.
After hours, security officers patrol the sprawling zoo but do not carry tranquilizer dart guns, Mulvena said. Even had one been available, he added, the sedatives “take time to set in.”
He said that his dayside weapons team would’ve likely taken the same actions as the deputy under the same circumstances.
Rosenquist, a contract worker with HMI Commercial Cleaning, was part of a crew that cleans the bathrooms and gift shop at the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens, the Naples News reported.
Police and zoo officials said he must have scaled a 4.5-foot fence and approached the cage before being mauled, according to the news outlet.
The sheriff’s office said Thursday it is working with state and federal authorities to investigate the “serious encounter” and determine whether Rosenquist will be hit with criminal charges, ABC News reported.
The zoo is conducting its own probe and Mulvena declined to comment on the possibility of charges, according to CNN.
“Honestly, our focus right now is on our staff,” he said.
The worker was possibly petting or feeding the tiger, “both of which are unauthorized and dangerous activities,” the sheriff’s office said, according to ABC News.
“Initial reports indicate that the tiger grabbed the man’s arm and pulled it into the enclosure after the man traversed an initial fence barrier and put his arm through the fencing of the tiger enclosure,” it added.
Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said in a statement that the “deputy did everything he could do in that situation and he ultimately made the only possible decision he could in order to save this man’s life.”
Mulvena said that losing Eko is like losing a family member, and that grief counselors will be on hand for zoo workers — who were emotional when the campus reopened Friday and didn’t plan on delivering any of their customary talks to the visitors.
The staff also plans to create a conservation fund in Eko’s name to protect Malayan tigers in the wild.
Meanwhile, Eko is “lying at rest” in the zoo’s hospital ahead of a necropsy planned for Monday, CNN reported.
Asked what lessons the zoo learned from the tragedy, Mulvena told reporters, “I think the lesson learned is that you can’t 100 percent prevent people from making really, really horrible decisions.”
He added: “I don’t know what to say other than that.”
