Woman climbs into lion's den at the Bronx Zoo

[RedAngie]

Is there a moat or separation of some kind we can't see there?

Yes, wide and deep enough that the lion wouldn't be able to jump across or climb the side closest to the woman.

The zoo made it idiot proof. But still a very stupid thing to do.

 

[JaxDad]

A Darwin Awards nominee.....

She didn't fulfill the main award requirement.

As Mr. Hand would say to her...

 

[Kitty 34]

Can’t you almost read his mind ... “are you frigging kidding me?”?

YES!

 

[Kitty 34]

I'm a frequent visitor to the Bronx Zoo. There is indeed a moat there, and from looking at the video, I'm pretty sure the moat is between her and the lion. Nevertheless, WT&@#$ was she thinking?

My guess is she wasn't.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I am not afraid of animals, but maybe she should go on a safari.....

 

[AppleDumpling]

I’ve been to the Bronx Zoo many times and know it well. I had a membership for years. I hope they prosecute this woman as harshly as possible, but unfortunately don’t think you can ever completely prevent this type of incident with stupid and/or crazy people.

Semi-UPDATE:

The Bronx Zoo has now filed a criminal trespass complaint so the NYPD have now doubled their efforts to look for the woman.

Pretty sure they know who the woman is by now. There is enough info on social media to identify her, including photo and video evidence of her actions. LOL, she even posted a photo posing with NYPD officers in Times Square, taken later that day after leaving the zoo.

She was probably high.

Yes, that seems to be the case.

I just looked at her Instagram. She def looks like she's getting high at the entrance to the Bronx Zoo in one of her posts!

ETA: There is another post on there that looks like she's in the giraffe enclosure!!!

Yes, she apparently also crossed a barrier to get closer to the giraffes. And reportedly, there were two lions in the area at the time, not just one.

What an idiot. Although, she was lucky she chose the lions and not the tigers. I still remember this zookeeper saying something like "the Lions will attack you if they are hungry. The tigers...they will just attack you."

At BZ back in 2012, a man jumped out of a monorail car and over a 16’ fence into a tiger habitat in the Wild Asia section. He was seriously mauled, but survived thanks to the quick response by zookeepers. Not sure if they have tigers there anymore; most of them are in a newer exhibit (Tiger Mountain), where you view them in an enclosed area with a full wall of thick glass.

 

[RangerPooh]

She didn't fulfill the main award requirement.

Perhaps that was just her audition tape.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Pretty sure they know who the woman is by now. There is enough info on social media to identify her, including photo and video evidence of her actions. LOL, she even posted a photo posing with NYPD officers in Times Square, taken later that day after leaving the zoo.

Oh please ....according to the pics she posted on her Instagram account she lives behind Lincoln Center, near 9th Avenue and 61 Streets; has been known to hangout in Brownsville, her name is Mara (sp?) and she evens gives her parent's names. She'a a walking, talking, dancing poster for NOT giving all your personal info out on social media.
Jsmh, jsmh.

Somewhat on topic, Ming, the Bengal Tiger of Harlem recently died. No word on the alligator who lived in the next bedroom.

 

[Imzadi]

Pretty sure they know who the woman is by now. There is enough info on social media to identify her, including photo and video evidence of her actions. LOL, she even posted a photo posing with NYPD officers in Times Square, taken later that day after leaving the zoo.

Oh please ....according to the pics she posted on her Instagram account she lives behind Lincoln Center, near 9th Avenue and 61 Streets; has been known to hangout in Brownsville, her name is Mara (sp?) and she evens gives her parent's names. She'a a walking, talking, dancing poster for NOT giving all your personal info out on social media.
Jsmh, jsmh.

I wonder if her family shoved her on a bus to Atlantic City for the weekend, till this blows over.

Of course, when she's back and posting again in the city, BAM! the police catch her. I hope the Bronx Zoo does take her to trial and the judge sentences her to community service" having to scrub animal enclosures of poop, and picking up road kill for a month. Then someone can post pics of her doing that.

 

[AppleDumpling]

Oh please ....according to the pics she posted on her Instagram account she lives behind Lincoln Center, near 9th Avenue and 61 Streets; has been known to hangout in Brownsville, her name is Mara (sp?) and she evens gives her parent's names. She'a a walking, talking, dancing poster for NOT giving all your personal info out on social media.

LOL, hadn’t heard that but I’m not surprised. She clearly is an attention seeker. Chances are, she’ll plead guilty to trespassing and maybe pay a hefty fine. Community service or jail time would be better. Meanwhile, she’s probably happy to have gotten what she was looking for, which is a viral video and 15 minutes of fame. Trouble is, people like that are selfish and rarely consider how their actions affect anyone else.

 

[CynBeth]

I told my DH about this and he immediately said Darwin Award. He looked for info on her online and said he saw something about her also going in the giraffe exhibit that day. If that is true how the heck does someone get into not one but two animal enclosures? I am not familiar with the Bronx Zoo but it seems every zoo I have visited there are always volunteers or zoo staff around.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Was this prefaced by "Hold my beer"?

 

[mousefan73]

And then the people filming and all around are just chatting like nothing is going on? Seriously, I would have been yelling at her to get her patootie out of there. Or at least yelling for a zookeeper etc.

That was my original thought too when I read the story and saw the video. Makes me fear more for our humanity. In one way I wish darwinism would’ve kicked in but then unfortunately that would result in most likely in the death of the lion

What really gets me is that you can hear kids, little kids speaking in the background. This terrifies me even more there are parents out there that would allow their kids to watch something like this. Moat or no motor doesn’t make a difference I would be scared the lion would take a huge leap and get over. Had it gone all wrong I would not want my kids to have witnessed a woman being eaten or attacked by a lion. Had we been there I would’ve been bolting in the opposite direction with my kids with my hand on them and the other hand on my phone calling the police

 

[DisneyOma]

she seems like fun

Maybe you could go hang out with her in the zoo...

 

[NYCgrrl]

I don't think yelling at the lion would be wise. Why further confuse the poor beast and add to the chaos?

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

So many unanswered questions here...

1. Who let the lion into the scarecrow exhibit?

2. The munchkins in the background sound a bit confused as to why this is happening. Have they been traumatized in any way? I hope not.

3. And where the hell was the tin man while all of this was happening?!!!

 

[bellebud]

I'd like to see her go to jail and have community service when she gets out. She endangered the lions life, so that she could look cool. What a selfish moron. She's not mentally ill, and who cares if she was high. There's no excuse for her behavior.

 

[AppleDumpling]

He looked for info on her online and said he saw something about her also going in the giraffe exhibit that day. If that is true how the heck does someone get into not one but two animal enclosures? I am not familiar with the Bronx Zoo but it seems every zoo I have visited there are always volunteers or zoo staff around.

That’s a good question and I agree it sounds incredible. I guess she just got lucky (if you can call it that) to slip in and out without being seen by any zoo personnel. Of course there are lots of staff and volunteers, but it’s a large zoo that’s very spread out. There are some areas, like the exhibits inside buildings, where you see staff more often, and other places where you don’t see them much except at feeding times (although there are always some working behind the scenes in non-public areas).

 

[SallySkelington]

I think I have a permanent mark on my forehead from face-palming so hard.

 

[Searc]

Was this prefaced by "Hold my beer"?

No, "hold my bong".