DAY OF TERROR: A crazed man who jumped from the monorail at the Bronx Zoo yesterday climbed into the tiger den, where a 400-pound feline beast chewed off his left foot. (
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A suicidal man leaped from a moving monorail at the Bronx Zoo yesterday to reach its dangerous tiger den, where he became a chew toy for a predatory beast who severed the man’s foot in a horrific mauling, authorities said.
The jumper, identified by sources as David Villalobos, 25, of Mahopac, awoke a protective male Siberian tiger when Villalobos entered the enclosure at about 3:30 p.m.
The 400-pound feline chased, clawed and bit him until he was rescued by zoo personnel.
“The tiger was asleep. But then the tiger started chasing him, and it chewed off his foot,” said one worker who saw the attack firsthand.
The monorail driver stopped the tram when he noticed that someone had made the 17-foot-jump. Passengers then watched as the deranged man climbed a 16-foot-high chain-link fence and jumped into the tiger enclosure.
Some gawkers even videotaped the attack, capturing the blood-curdling screams of the victim.
At least one shocked witness called 911, but emergency responders had to wait for zookeepers to lure away the beast named Bachuta before they could care for the bloodied man.
Emergency workers used a fire extinguisher to move the 11-year-old big cat away from Villalobos and into a secure pen.
They then told him to roll under an electrified wire to safety, where he was rushed into a waiting ambulance, said a zoo spokesman.
Villalobos suffered a severed left foot and a punctured lung, but was conscious and talking as he was rushed by ambulance to Jacobi Medical Center.
Bronx Zoo Director Jim Breheny said Villalobos spent about 10 minutes alone with the tiger, and was in the enclosure for about 30 minutes before he was transported out.
He was in stable condition this morning. A patient in Villalobos’ room said the man had a large cast and neck brace and was being attended by a psychiatric nurse.
“If not for the quick response by our staff and their ability to perform well in emergency situations, the outcome would have been very different,” Breheny said.
“Tigers are extremely capable predators, and what they typically do is grab a prey animal by the head or back, and it’s over very quickly.”
The area where the attack took place, called Wild Asia, is a wooded, natural-roaming section of the park where animals are separated from one another by chain-link fences.
It’s viewable only by monorail — a half-open, train that runs as high as 50 feet and as low as four feet off the ground.
Bachuta, who has been at the zoo for three years, was in a holding pen last night, but he will not be put down.
“The tiger did nothing wrong in this case at all,” said Breheny.
Villalobos’ Facebook page portrays him as an avid animal lover, with pictures of big cats like jaguars and lions.
On Thursday, he posted a shot of a mother tiger licking the top of her baby cub’s head. Over the shot he had written “nice.”
Friends of the Villalobos family were shocked by his suicidal leap.
“This makes no sense. Last time I saw him he was in a great mood,” said neighbor Susan Panzarino.
Another neighbor said Villalobos lives in Manhattan and works in real estate.
This wasn’t the first mauling by a tiger at the Bronx Zoo.
In 1985, a young zookeeper was killed by two Siberian tigers in the same Wild Asia section of the zoo.