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Woman Attacked by Jaguar After Crossing Barrier to Take a Selfie

by Julie Nealon | March 19, 2019

A woman in Arizona suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries after being attacked by a jaguar when she crossed a barrier at a zoo to take a selfie. Last Saturday at Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium and Safari Park in Litchfield Park, about 20 miles outside of Phoenix in Arizona, a woman suffered serious injuries to her arm after attempting to take a selfie.

Woman Attacked by Jaguar After Crossing Barrier to Take a Selfie

The woman crossed a barrier while attempting to take a selfie with a jaguar. According to the Rural Metro Fire Department the jaguar swiped at the woman, causing injury to her arm. Paramedics were called upon request of her family and she was taken to a local hospital to treat the laceration on her arm.

In a statement the zoo said that the jaguar was never out of her enclosure and the incident is being fully investigated. According to local news outlet AZFamily.com, the woman returned to the zoo and apologized and admitted that she was fully at fault.

After lions and tigers, jaguars are the third largest cat in the world. They are the largest cat native to South and Central America. Jaguars used to live in the wild in the southern states of America but were wiped out by hunters in the 1940’s. The Jaguar has an incredibly powerful jaw that are powerful enough to crack a skull. They are fearsome predators and are known to hunt deer, crocodiles, snakes, monkeys, frogs, and turtles. Unlike most other cats, jaguars do not avoid the water and are excellent swimmers.

Jaguars are solitary creatures. Females can have up to four cubs who stay with them for the first two years of life, learning to hunt and survive. They are most hunted for their fur and ranchers are known to kill them because the cats sometimes prey upon their livestock.

There are only an estimated 15,000 jaguars in the wild.