NEW YORK -
NEW YORK (AP) - A man who was mauled by a
tiger at the Bronx Zoo is facing arrest after telling investigators he
wanted "to be one" with the 400-pound beast, police said Saturday.
David Villalobos also
claimed that despite his serious injuries, he was able to pet the tiger
before zookeepers came to his rescue, said New York Police Department
spokesman Paul Browne.
Browne said that based on a
complaint from the zoo and his own admissions, the hospitalized
Villalobos would be arrested and charged with trespassing.
Police had said earlier
that 25-year-old Villalobos admitted to a police officer making a
conscious decision to jump from an elevated train into the animal's den,
but that his motives were unclear and an arrest uncertain.
That changed when, during
an interview Saturday at the hospital, Villalobos told detectives that
"his leap was definitely not a suicide attempt, but a desire to be one
with the tiger," Browne said.
The mauling happened Friday
afternoon in the Wild Asia exhibit featuring a train with open sides
that takes visitors over the Bronx River and through a forest, where
they glide along the top edge of a fence past elephants, deer and a
tiger enclosure.
Passengers aren't strapped
in on the ride, and Villalobos apparently jumped out of his train car
with a leap powerful enough to clear the 16-foot-high perimeter fence.
Villalobos was alone with a
male Siberian tiger named Bashuta for about 10 minutes before he was
rescued by zoo officials, who used a fire extinguisher to chase the
animal away, said zoo director Jim Breheny.
"When someone is determined to do something harmful to themselves," Breheny said, "it's very hard to stop that."
Bashuta was returned to a holding area where it usually sleeps at night and will not be euthanized, zoo officials said.
"The tiger did nothing wrong," Breheny said.
Villalobos suffered bites
and punctures on his arms, legs, shoulders and back, and a broken arm
and a leg. A hospital spokeswoman said he was in stable condition
Saturday, but his family has requested that no further information be
released.
"If not for the quick
response by our staff and their ability to perform well in emergency
situations, the outcome would have been very different," Breheny said.
After zoo staff chased the
tiger off, Villalobos was instructed to roll under an electrified wire
to get to safety, Breheny said. Zookeepers then called the tiger into a
holding area, he said.
Bashuta is 11 years old and has been at the zoo for three years.
The Bronx Zoo, one of the
nation's largest zoos, sprawls over 265 acres and contains hundreds of
animals, many in habitats meant to resemble natural settings. Its
exhibits include Tiger Mountain, Congo Gorilla Forest and World of
Reptiles.
There are 10 tigers at the
Wild Asia exhibit, but Bashuta was the only one on display at the time.
There are no surveillance cameras in that area of the exhibit.
Zoo officials said they would review safety procedures but stressed that the situation was unusual.
"We review everything, but
we honestly think we provide a safe experience," Breheny said. "And this
is just an extraordinary occurrence."
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