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Homo Sapiens for Supper?
April 13, 2009 7:40 AM
By GABRIEL O'RORKE, ABC News London
A 32-year-old German woman jumped into a polar bear enclosure at feeding time Saturday.
Six zoo-keepers fought for her life, using all their efforts to prevent the four inhabitants from eating the woman as she swam across the enclosure.
An older polar bear took a particular interest in trying to get a bite of the soggy intruder. But Knut, the bear who came to fame after being hand-raised by a zoo-keeper, resisted the temptation to nibble on human flesh.
Heiner Kloes, a Berlin Zoo spokesman, released a statement explaining how challenging it is to enter the enclosure, since it is surrounded by a fence, a wall and a line of hedges.
Kloes continued to explain that the keepers had to push back the attacking bear before pulling the woman to safety.
It is not known why the woman took the dangerous leap which left her with several bites on her limbs.
She is now in the hospital undergoing surgery for her wounds.
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April 13, 2009 in Gabriel O'Rorke | Permalink | User Comments (12)
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The bears were obviously NOT trying to "eat" her. They were investigating what fell into their environment. If they had wanted to eat/kill her, they would have done so immediately. Kudos to the zookeepers for rescuing this stupid woman. If she was that mentally ill, what was she doing at the zoo without someone to keep watch over her?
Posted by: CLK | Apr 13, 2009 9:03:13 AM
I'm just glad none of the zookeepers were hurt or the bears during this scene. Remember when that poor tiger was killed in the San Francisco zoo after those teens jumped in and taunted her, she jumped the enclosure and tried to kill them and was shot.
Posted by: San | Apr 13, 2009 1:04:21 PM
Of all the stupid things to do! This ranks right up there with that woman who walked into Wal-Mart with a million dollar bill, bought goods and expected change!
Posted by: Gerald | Apr 13, 2009 1:56:07 PM
The woman is obviously deranged and needs psychiatric treatment. Maybe she just found out her husband has been shtupping her sister for the past 42 years, or that the pope wears women's underwear. We all have our freaky moments.
Posted by: fuzzy | Apr 13, 2009 5:58:42 PM
Freaky Deaky, indeed....perhaps the lady actually wanted to end her own life...maybe she's just unbelievably stupid...
Posted by: Jazz | Apr 14, 2009 10:34:17 AM
THEY WERE PROBABLY TRYING TO SAVE HER. THEY SEE HUMAN TRAINERS ALL DAY LONG AND COOPERATE.
FACT IS, ONE GOOD SWAT AND SHE'S DEAD.. D-O-A.
PSYCHO.
Posted by: Chuck | Apr 15, 2009 6:58:00 PM
The woman that jumped inside the enclosure should be charged with endangering the polar bear handlers..those handlers could have been killed and the bears injured/destroyed cause of human stupidity..
Posted by: Lee | Apr 17, 2009 8:21:54 AM
She was trying to apologize to the bears for being held captive. She wanted them to understand that not all humans will "harm" them. Seems there may have been a failure in communication.
Posted by: Paulbear | Apr 17, 2009 10:36:48 AM
1 in 4 people has a diagnosable mental
illness..What ever her reason was, it was not too smart. And all those dummies who think animals "get us" like the "Bear Man" are stupid. Lions, Tigers, chimps and Bears can never be pets..end of story...or else..chomp,chomp!
Posted by: Blackie | Apr 20, 2009 2:27:15 PM
Another stupid human trying to get her 15 minutes of fame at the risk of animals being killed . I bet she'll try to sue . I'm glad the bears were smarter than her .Thank you zoo handlers for protecting the bears from the dummy.
Posted by: morris | Apr 25, 2009 3:12:43 AM
Re: all the negative comments toward this woman: she made an obvious mistake here and everyone makes mistakes. She is paying the price for it and suffering enough, without all these rude comments toward her. Why are people so judgemental?
Posted by: jane | Apr 28, 2009 5:20:51 PM
Jane....just HOW did this woman make a misstake? She jumped into a polar bear cage obviously because she wanted to. The woman is obviously a NUTCASE to do something like this...a feable attempt at suicide maybe but a misstake?....no way....It's because of idiots like this woman that some of our beautiful zoo animals have to be killed. I'm glad the bears are all okay....
Posted by: SideSwipe08 | May 4, 2009 6:05:25 PM
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