Those attending the zoo for a glimpse of good old fashioned entertainment were given a lot more than they bargained for when one drunk man decided to jump into the bear enclosurein the age-old tale of man vs bear.
Discover our latest podcast
The incident occurred after the man managed to make his way into the enclosure and jumped into the surrounding moat after being chased by an understandablyfurious animal resident.
Spectators at the Warsaw Zoo, Poland, managed to capture the horrific event on video, showing the man attempting to drown a black bearunderwater before putting the animal in a headlock.
A spokesperson for the Warsaw Zoo claimed that the man was extremely lucky to come out of the situation alive stating that the bear, named Sabina, had a history with the circus and was used to dealing with humans.
Local media claimed that the 23-year-old was drunk at the time of the incident and firefighters promptly escorted the young man to the police station.
While the drunkard was able to escape relatively unscathed and with a story to pass on to his grandchildren, the bear was pretty shook up. A spokesperson for the zoo claimed:
The female bear, named Sabina, was surprised by the man’s actions and is now sitting in the water and nervously roaring every now and then. She is under the watchful eye of caring zoo staff.
The zoo is now attempting to sue the 23-year-old for causing Sabina to suffer from emotional distress.
The zoo's full statement read:
Loved ones. Today won’t be funny or fun. Today is going to be very serious. Probably some of you have already heard about the incident on the catwalk of brown bears in Prague Park. In broad daylight, a man jumped on the catwalk where two of our bears jumped in. He attacked Sabina, then drowned her in the water. Everything ended ‘well’ – and human and animals are alive. Sabina escaped and the intruder pulled out by the Fire Brigade. However, this is a terrible tragedy for us. Little One [another bear in the enclosure] was also on the catwalk at that time, luckily she did not join the whole fight. If that were the case, the man could have suffered much bigger injuries. For us, however, the biggest nightmare is that in situations like this, when human life is threatened, animals are shot. The sedatives don’t work fast, only firearms are left. Maybe not everyone knows this and that’s why they risk to pet, feed, take a ‘cool’ picture and be able to show off on the internet.
You can watch the full dramatic scene for yourself in the video above.