A young male was killed after breaking into a tiger enclosure at the Copenhagen Zoo on Wednesday.
Authorities said that the 21-year-old scaled the fence and crossed a moat before being savaged by three adult Siberian tigers in the early morning hours of the morning before the zoo opened. Zoo employees said the man was dead when they arrived for work.
Lars Borg, superintendent of the Copenhagen police, said in a statement, “We received an emergency call at about 7:30 that a person had been found lying in the tiger pen and that three tigers were surrounding that person. The tigers attacked him and killed him. It is likely that a bite to the throat was the primary reason for his death,” Reuters reports.
The man has yet to be identified, although reports indicate that he is a foreigner with a Danish residence permit. Officials say he may have broken into the zoo to commit suicide and that they will continue to review CCTV footage for further insight into the ordeal.
Steffen Straede, chief executive for Copenhagen Zoo, said that the employees who found the man’s body are being treated by psychologists.
Image: Bill Ebbesen