A critically endangered tiger was shot and killed at a Florida zoo after the animal bit a worker who reached into its enclosure.
The incident happened Wednesday evening, after the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens had closed for the day.
According to police, a maintenance worker was seriously injured when he entered an unauthorized area and was either petting or feeding the animal.
"Initial reports indicate that the tiger grabbed the man's arm and pulled it into the enclosure after the the man traversed an initial fence barrier and put his arm through the fencing of the tiger enclosure," the Collier County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
Police noted that the man was part of a third-party cleaning service contracted by the zoo to clean restrooms and the gift shop, not the animal enclosures.
A deputy responded to the zoo at 6:26 p.m. and found the tiger with the man's arm in its mouth.
"The first deputy on scene kicked the enclosure and tried to get the tiger to release the man's arm from its mouth but the deputy was forced to shoot the animal," the sheriff's office said.
The cleaner, a man in his 20s, was taken to the hospital.
After being shot, the 8-year-old Malayan tiger retreated to the back of the enclosure. Police sent a drone over the enclosure and determined the tiger wasn't responding.
A veterinarian sedated the animal and examined it "when it [was] safe to do so," the sheriff's office said.
A spokesperson for the zoo later confirmed the tiger was killed in the shooting.
The tiger, named Eko, has been at the Naples Zoo since December 2019. Before that, he was at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.
"Eko is a great ambassador for his species. When guests see him, we hope they fall in love and want to learn how they can do their part to save his cousins in the wild," the zoo said when announcing Eko's introduction to the public in February 2020.
Malayan tigers are critically endangered, with less than 200 mature individuals in the wild according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The tigers are native to the forests and mangrove swamps in Malaysia and face threats such as habitat loss, poaching for their bones and skin, depletion of their prey, and tiger-human conflict, the zoo said.
The zoo will remain closed on Thursday to allow for an internal investigation and to allow staff "to process what has occurred and to begin the painful healing process. A grief counselor will be available for staff," the zoo said in statement. "We thank our community for their understanding and for the messages and words of encouragement and support that have been flowing into us."
The zoo is expected to reopen to the public Friday morning.
A police investigation is ongoing.
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