DAVID VILLALOBOS
Jumped in tiger lair.
Hello, kitty!
After days in hiding, Bachuta — the Siberian tiger who incredibly didn’t kill a man who had jumped into his Bronx Zoo enclosure — was out basking in the sun yesterday (pictured).
Rhonda Magid, 56, snapped photos as she and her daughter rode the monorail over the big cat and his wild pals.
“He was coming toward the monorail, out of the woods, toward us,” said Magid.
“The guide said he was expecting to be fed. After last week, maybe he was looking at us,” she joked.
Bachuta earned his stripes as a celebrity on Friday, when David Villalobos of Putnam County decided to “become one” with a tiger by jumping off the monorail and scaling a 16-foot fence.
Bachuta munched on him before keepers rescued him.
Villalobos has been charged with criminal trespass and is still hospitalized.
Another zoo-goer yesterday, 43-year-old Aliza Marlin of Manhattan, was relieved to see Bachuta back on the prowl.
“Clearly, [Bachuta] didn’t seem bothered, because [he] was right out in the open,” Marlin said.
“The tiger looked very happy.”
So was she. She said she was glad “to learn that Bachuta will not be euthanized.”
“It wasn’t his fault. The man was crazy,” she said.
Marcia Charles, 56, enjoyed watching the Siberian tiger “licking himself in the sun.”
“He was right out there like it was nobody’s business,” she said.
But zoo guides on the monorail made it their business.
They repeatedly warned riders to “stay seated” as they looked for Bachuta.