Fear not for Bachuta.
The 11-year-old Siberian tiger who mauled a Bronx Zoo patron when he deliberately jumped into the beast’s den is expected back on display shortly — and will suffer no lasting effects from the experience, experts told The Post yesterday.
“There is a huge misconception that once a tiger has tasted a human being, they’re inclined to hunt human beings,” said Harry Peachey, curator at the Columbus Zoo’s Mainland Asia exhibit.
“More importantly, tigers that target humans do it for other reasons — they do it because they’re easier prey, there is some other kind of extenuating situation, or the animal feels threatened.”
The 400-pound tiger, Bachuta, was awakened on Friday by David Villalobos, 25, who dropped 17 feet from a monorail and climbed into the feline’s preserve.
Animal Planet’s large-predator expert, Dave Salmoni, said the attack was likely the result of a captivity tiger feeling threatened and “not knowing what to do.”
“They don’t know how to kill — their mom never taught them how to kill,” Salmoni said.
Had the feline meant business, Peachey added, he likely would have gone for Villalobos’ head or neck — like large cats do in the wild — and the 25-year-old would have been history long before zookeepers arrived 10 minutes later.
“Ten minutes is a long time,” he said. “The fact that this interaction lasted for 10 minutes and this person survived makes me think that it was based on play.”
Salmoni added, “As far as what’s going on in that tiger’s head during the attack, he’s probably thinking, ‘That looks like a really fun toy — let me grab it.’ ”