Lion bites man at Fresno Chaffee Zoo
Photo: Courtesy of the Fresno Chaffe Zoo. Authorities say at this point it's unclear which lion bit the man.
FRESNO, Calif. (KTVU) - A lion bit a man at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo after he began climbing into the lion's enclosure.
Alisha Anderson with the Fresno Chaffee Zoo tells KTVU, two men who were apparently under the influence of drugs broke into the zoo Wednesday night.
The pair climbed a fence with barbed wire to enter the zoo. They then made their way to the lion area which has double barriers. The men believed they were being chased at the time, according to Anderson.
One of the men made it over the first barrier and began climbing the second barrier. That's when a lion inside the enclosure bit the man's foot.
A security guard heard the commotion and rushed over to help pull the man off of the fence. Anderson says in the man's state, it's unclear if he would have been able to actually make the full climb into the barrier into the lion's enclosure.
The man received medical attention at the scene. The extent of his injuries is unclear.
The lion was not injured in the incident.
In the Bay Area, the most memorable attack at a zoo was on Christmas Day in 2007 in San Francisco. A tiger named Tatiana escaped her grotto and attacked three young men, mauling one of them to death. Police eventually shot her to death.
In the days immediately following the attack, the director of the zoo said that Tatiana was probably provoked and some witnesses reported that they saw at least some of the men taunting the lion before the attack.
Additional details have not been released.