china tiger safari attack

Woman Killed by Tiger After Exiting Her Vehicle at Beijing Animal Park

CCTV footage shows a woman being mauled and dragged away by a tiger.

— -- One woman died and another was severely injured after a tiger attacked them when they exited their vehicle while at the Beijing Badaling Wildlife World this weekend, according to Yanqing County government.

The incident, caught in part on surveillance video, took place on Saturday at an outdoor, drive-through animal park in China, where visitors can drive around in their cars and view exotic animals as if on a safari. The tragedy occurred when one woman exited her vehicle while in the Siberian tiger enclosure part of the animal park.

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Surveillance footage shows a woman exiting the passenger side of the vehicle, walking over to the driver's side, and then standing outside of the vehicle while she seems to speak with someone inside the car. Suddenly a tiger pounces on her, dragging the woman away from the vehicle and off camera.

Two more people then jump out of the car, running after the woman and tiger, disappearing off camera.

The woman who died was a 57-year-old mother who was trying to save her daughter from the tiger, according to the South China Morning Post. The daughter, in her 30s, who is reportedly the one seen being dragged away by the tiger in the surveillance video, was severely injured, the paper reported.

Badaling Wildlife World was immediately closed following the incident, and an investigation is underway, according to the Yanqing County government's official blog.

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Siberian Tiger Mauls Woman After She Gets Out of Car; How Aggressive Are Big Cats? [WATCH]

A family got in trouble when an unexpected guest joined in their argument. A couple was reportedly fighting when a tiger attacked the woman.

Tiger Attacks a Woman

A Twitter   video went viral, featuring an unexpected encounter between humans and a fierce tiger. According to Crazy Clips in the caption, the woman exited the car during an argument with her husband in a safari park.

In the video, the car stops, and the woman immediately gets off the car. The driver - her husband - opens the door on his side.

They talk or probably argue while she stands outside the car until a huge Siberian tiger approaches the woman and attacks her. The big cat drags her out of the frame of the camera.

The husband and another woman ran out of the car to rescue her.

The post has garnered 2.6 million views, 2.5 retweets, and over 20,000 likes. Several netizens also reacted to the clip.

Steve Parker suggested   that the couple should have kept their argument in the car. Lord Flacko Slim said   it was "natural selection."

Another jokingly commented  that the moral of the story was for women to wait to get home before they yell at their husbands and not do it on the grounds of "the eye of the tiger" at lunchtime in the jungle.

What Really Happened in the Video?

The incident happened in 2016. According to The New York Times , the family was in a Beijing animal park, Badaling Wildlife World, in a section that allows people to drive their vehicles.

Her husband and the other woman - who was later identified as the woman's mother - jumped out in an attempt to rescue her. The woman who was first attacked was badly injured, but her mom, who tried to save her, was mauled to death.

The husband was uninjured, and so did their child, who remained inside the vehicle.

Woman gets out of the car to argue with her husband while inside a Tiger Safari 😳 pic.twitter.com/46HI74qhZj — Crazy Clips (@crazyclipsonly) April 27, 2023

ALSO READ:   Male Tiger Mauled a Man in India, Half-Eaten Body Found Near a Reserve Park

How Aggressive Are Tigers?

The outlet noted that the tiger that attacked the woman could be a Siberian tiger, which is the largest cat in the world, according to Jack of Science . Siberian tigers are considered more powerful and bigger than Bengal tigers.

They can weigh up to 660 pounds. Aside from being heavier and larger, Siberian tigers have long claws, which gives them an edge.

In general, although tigers are seen as a threat, they are elusive and would rather avoid humans. However, they tend to be aggressive and irritable when they are ill, injured, or can't hunt properly, according to Biology Dictionary .

Tigers are both fascinating and frightful beings. John Vaillant tells the story of Vladimir Markov, a hunter, and poacher in Far Eastern Russia, in his novel " The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival ."

The gripping story detailed how a man-eating tiger was killing people in a remote village. The deadly predator was cunning, injured, and starving.

Vaillant also recounted how Markov wounded a tiger with a gunshot before snatching some of its prey.

The wounded tiger followed the hunter, searched his hut, and awaited his return home before killing and devouring him. The unusual instance shows the tiger waiting up to two days for the hunter before killing him, seemingly out of retaliation.

RELATED ARTICLE: Sumatran Tigers in Indonesia Recovering From COVID-19, Cause of Coronavirus in Animals Still Unknown

Check out more news and information on Tiger  in Science Times.

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Fatal Tiger Mauling Shows What's Wrong With Animal Parks

A woman's death in China could have been prevented, and it highlights some of the problems with captive animal parks.

Surveillance video at a wildlife park in northern China shows the horrifying moment a woman is attacked by a captive tiger . The woman survived, but her mother was killed after she rushed to defend her daughter.

The woman's husband also came to his wife's rescue and was not hurt.

The deadly encounter took place Saturday at Badaling Wildlife World outside Beijing. Yet the incident could have been prevented and is a reminder of the danger—and questionable track record—of such captive animal experiences, says Luke Dollar, a conservation biologist who directs National Geographic's Big Cats Initiative .

"Lack of awareness and lack of respect for wild animals can sometimes be very expensive, and unfortunately it cost a woman her life," Dollar says.

John Goodrich, the senior program director for tigers for the conservation group Panthera , puts it thus: "If you step out of a car in a cage full of tigers, it's common sense what could happen."

According to local news reports, guests are allowed to drive their own vehicles through a section of Badaling Wildlife World that features captive Siberian tigers. But such attractions are not a good idea, Dollar and Goodrich warn.

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In fact, the park has had several other safety problems in the past. A security guard who stepped out of a vehicle was killed by a tiger there in 2014. In March, another employee was killed by an elephant . In 2009, a man was killed by a tiger after he scaled a fence and entered an enclosure.

"I hope they're not taking any actions against the tiger," Goodrich adds.

Attempts to reach Badaling Wildlife World have so far not been successful. The county government issued a statement saying they are investigating the incident, the park has been temporarily closed, and that "here we remind the tourists, walkers must comply with the relevant regulations, improve safety awareness, to avoid accidents."

Captive Tigers Can Be More Dangerous

Lions and tigers in captive situations "often don't have a healthy fear of people," Dollar says. They often associate humans with food or positive attention, especially if they are hand raised.

Some wildlife attractions even permit people to pet or hand-feed big cats, which can exacerbate unnatural behaviors, he adds.

In contrast, in the wild, big cats tend to avoid people, possibly seeing them as rival predators or even as threats, particularly in areas with a history of hunting. When a person on a safari vehicle exits a vehicle around them—which can still be dangerous—the big cats typically scatter, Dollar says. ( Read about the woman killed by a lion in South Africa .)

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"But captive cats, which may have been around people their entire lives, may be curious when people get out of a vehicle, since that probably doesn't happen on a regular basis," Dollar says.

Local media have reported that the woman who first exited her car at the park Saturday may have been arguing with her husband, although a family friend later disputed that fact. If she was raising her voice, it could have attracted the tiger, Dollar says, since it could have piqued its curiosity, or even sounded like a distress call (predators often hone in on prey in distress).

( Read about the gorilla that attacked a boy in a U.S. zoo .)

Captive Parks Can Be Problematic

As the recent controversy over Thailand's tiger temple suggests , some captive wildlife attractions have been linked to supplying the black market for bones, skins, and other valuable contraband. And some facilities have been criticized for keeping animals in unsanitary, small, and unnatural conditions. Sometimes, lions and tigers are even kept together, causing them significant stress.

What's more, there's little evidence captive breeding on such a large scale is benefitting the species overall or in the wild, Dollar says. There are more than two times more tigers in captivity in the U.S. than there are throughout the entire world in the wild.

Although he's not familiar with Badaling Wildlife World in particular, Dollar says many captive animal attractions around the world are "exploitive and profiteering." The animals often "aren't being bred to restock wild populations," Dollar adds.

As of this writing we are unable to determine whether Badaling has ever released tigers into the wild. Goodrich says he is not aware of any reintroductions of tigers across China.

Still, "cats are amazingly resilient, and they do just fine if we can adequately manage and protect them," says Dollar.

Although the study has since been contested by some biologists , an April report estimated that there about 3,890 tigers left in the wild , up from 3,200 in 2010. Yet the April report estimated only seven wild tigers in China, noting that the country has yet to do a formal count. ( Read about the recent decline of leopards .)

Goodrich adds that China remains the world's biggest market for blackmarket tiger parts, which he calls "the driving force behind the decline of tigers." The country has done some work to protect its remaining wild tigers, but more could be done, he adds.

"I love the fact that people care about big cats, but I wish people could do what they can to help them without this exploitative component [of wildlife attractions]," Dollar says.

Note: This story was updated at 1:30 pm ET with comments from Goodrich of Panthera.

Follow Brian Clark Howard on Twitter and Google+ .

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China Tiger Attack Kills Woman at Drive-Through Animal Park

Video shows tiger mauling in beijing, graphic surveillance video from an animal park in china captured a woman being attacked by a tiger after she left her car. that woman survived, while another woman who rushed to her rescue was killed..

By Austin Ramzy

• July 25, 2016

A woman was killed by a tiger over the weekend after jumping out of a car in a Beijing animal park to try to save her daughter from a tiger attack, local government officials said.

At least one tiger mauled the women on Saturday at Badaling Wildlife World in a section that allows people to drive their own vehicles through a Siberian tiger enclosure, the Yanqing County government said in a written statement .

Surveillance video that circulated widely online showed a woman exit a car, then walk to the other side of the vehicle, where she was attacked a few seconds later by a tiger. As the animal dragged her away, her husband and mother jumped out in an attempt to rescue her.

The woman left the car because of an argument with her husband, reported The Legal Evening News, based in Beijing. The Beijing News, also based in the Chinese capital, quoted a friend of the family who denied that the couple had been fighting.

The woman who was first attacked was badly injured, and her mother, who left the car in an effort to save her daughter, was killed, The Beijing News reported. The woman’s husband was uninjured, as was their child, who remained in the vehicle, the newspaper said.

The park, near a famous section of the Great Wall in a county north of central Beijing, has had serious safety problems before. In March, a park employee was killed by an elephant . A security guard who stepped out of a patrol vehicle was killed by a tiger in 2014.

In 2009, an 18-year-old man was killed by a tiger in the park after he scaled a fence with two friends to enter the animals’ enclosure. The men had apparently been trying to take a shortcut through the park after a hike along the Great Wall, reported Xinhua, a state-run news agency.

While the number of wild tigers in China has dropped to fewer than two dozen living in the far northeast, where they cross back and forth into Russia, thousands of tigers are raised in parks around the country. Visitors to parks in cities like Harbin can pay to feed them, sometimes with live animals. Critics say such breeding programs do little to help wild populations and are sometimes used as cover for the illegal trade in animal parts, like tiger pelts and wine made from their bones.

Follow Austin Ramzy on Twitter @austinramzy .

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Mom Killed After Trying to Save Her Daughter From Horrific Tiger Attack in Safari Park

From Good Housekeeping

A mother has died after trying to save her daughter from a tiger attack at a drive-through animal park in Beijing, The New York Times reports . The two women, along with the daughter's husband and the couple's child, were visiting the Badaling Wildlife World park when the attack occurred.

According to the Times , a Beijing news source has reported that the younger woman left the car after an argument with her husband. In the below video, which was captured by a park surveillance camera, you can see her exit from the passenger door and walk around to the other side of the vehicle. Within seconds, a tiger attacks, and the woman's husband and mother run after her in an attempt to save her.

Although park workers were on the scene nearly immediately after the attack (which you can also see in the surveillance camera footage), they were not able to save the woman's mother. The younger woman was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, and her husband remained unharmed, the Times reports. The couple's child, who stayed in the vehicle during the time of the attack, was also unharmed.

Badaling Wildlife World visitors are prohibited from exiting their vehicles and warned to keep their car doors locked and windows closed, NBC News reports , but this isn't the first time that the park has seen a tragic animal-related death. A park employee was killed by an elephant in March, and a security guard, who had stepped out of a patrol vehicle, was killed by a tiger in 2014, according to the Times .

USA Today reports that the Yanqing County government is currently investigating the incident.

[h/t The New York Times ]

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Man mauled by tiger, killed at eastern China resort

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BEIJING (AP) — A tiger-mauling death at a Chinese zoo is under investigation by local authorities who say the victim climbed a fence into the tiger’s enclosure.

The attack occurred Saturday at a resort on Dongqian Lake in eastern China’s Zhejiang province. A local government statement says the victim, identified only by his surname of Zhang, climbed a fence with a friend instead of buying tickets. The statement said Zhang’s wife and two children, as well as his friend’s wife, bought tickets to enter the zoo.

Zhang allegedly passed through a wire netting and eventually climbed a wall to enter the tiger enclosure, while his friend stayed back, the statement said. A tiger attacked him inside the enclosure, as visitors to the park apparently watched from a distance. Photos and video shared on social media appear to show Zhang lying on the ground as tigers circle him.

State television reported one tiger was shot dead by local police, and three others nearby were dispersed using firecrackers. One video posted online shows a tiger gnawing on his body as people can be heard screaming.

Zhang died later in a hospital.

The incident drew a protest from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, which said it reflected the problems of keeping tigers and other large cats in captivity.

“Attacks by captive big cats on people — which occur with staggering regularity — illustrate the profound level of stress, anxiety and agitation these animals experience every day of their lives,” PETA’s vice president of international campaigns, Jason Baker, said in a statement.

Two women were attacked by Siberian tigers in July when they got out of their vehicle at a Beijing safari park. One woman was killed, and the other was seriously injured.

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THE daughter of a woman mauled to death by a protected tiger has demanded $305,500 compensation from a Beijing safari park.

Chinese national Ms Zhou was attacked by the animal while attempting to rescue her daughter Zhao, who had been dragged away by the hungry tiger moments before, The Sun reports.

The Badaling Wildlife World tragedy, which was captured on CCTV, happened after the pair got out of the safari vehicle they were travelling in following an argument.

According to reports in Chinese media, the tiger pounced on the daughter before dragging her off.

In a bid to rescue her daughter, Ms Zhou leapt from the vehicle and was attacked by a second tiger, mauling her to death.

Daughter Zhao sustained serious injuries in the attack and has apparently been left disabled.

Zhao’s mother is seen leaping from the car moments before she is mauled to death. She is now suing the wildlife park for a 1.55 million yuan payout ($AU305,500), and has called on the park to bear part responsibility for her mother’s death on July 23, 2016.

A previous official investigation into the incident ruled that there were no safety concerns at the park and cleared the business of any wrongdoing.

The payout petition apparently includes 1.25 million yuan ($AU246,500) to cover Ms Zhou’s funeral cost, life expenses for Ms Zhou’s dependants and consolation compensation for Ms Zhou’s family members.

It also included 310,000 yuan ($AU61,000) for Ms Zhao to cover her surgery fees and lost wages.

Siberian tigers are a protected species in China and are listed as endangered animals by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The 6,000-acre wildlife park previously allowed people to drive themselves through the facility, or join a guided tour.

Since the tragedy, self-driving tours of the tiger enclosure have been banned, with “do not get out of the car” signs clearly installed at the entrance.

This article was originally published by The Sun and appears here with permission.

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Tiger Attacks Women in Beijing Animal Park, Killing One

A tiger attacked two women after they left their car in a Beijing animal park on Saturday.

The beginning of the attack was caught on surveillance footage in the Siberian tiger enclosure of Badaling Wildlife World. The video shows the younger woman exiting her car and walking around it to get back in, when the tiger seizes her and drags her off-screen. In the widely-shared video, the woman’s husband and mother jump out of the car to follow the attacker.

The husband was uninjured , reports the New York Times, but the mother was killed trying to save her daughter, who sustained serious injuries. It’s unclear why the woman exited her vehicle in the middle of a tiger sanctuary: reports surfaced that she was having an argument with her husband, but the South China Morning Post reported that the couple wasn’t fighting and that they had thought they were out of the tiger area.

Park officials have declined to comment on the attack, but said the park has remained closed due to impending rain.

[ Washington Post ]

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Grandmother Mauled to Death After Video Captures Woman Being Dragged by Tiger at Beijing Safari Park

by: Los Angeles Times

Posted: Jul 25, 2016 / 11:13 AM PDT

Updated: Jul 25, 2016 / 12:06 PM PDT

Beijing Badaling Wildlife World promises visitors a safari experience just 30 miles from the center of the Chinese capital — customers can drive their own cars through a park where lions, tigers and other wild game roam free. But on Saturday afternoon, one family’s outing went horribly wrong, ending with a Siberian tiger mauling a 57-year-old grandmother to death.

The incident, caught on security camera footage aired by state-run China Central Television, is chilling: A woman can be seen on the video stepping out from the front passenger’s side of a white sedan and walking around to the driver’s side. As her husband opens his door, a tiger suddenly bounds up to the vehicle, knocking the woman to the pavement and dragging her off the roadway.

The man rushes out of the car to come to his wife’s aid, along with the woman’s mother, who had been sitting in the back seat along with the couple’s son.

Although park staff appeared on the scene almost immediately in a green SUV, a second tiger attacked the older woman, killing her on the spot, authorities said.

Click here to read the full story on LATimes.com.

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Beijing Badaling Safari Park reopens on November 13th after the deadly tiger attack. /CFP Photo

Zhao Jing, survivor of the tiger attack, shows the scar on the back of her neck to media on November 10th, 2016. /Sina.com Photo

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Bear vs tiger: Watch 2 of nature's heavyweights face off in the wild in India

Visitors at a tiger reserve in India recently filmed an encounter between a tigress and a bear, with the bear charging after the tigress but deciding at the last minute it was not worth the fight.

Visitors at a nature reserve in India recently witnessed an incredibly rare sight, when a bear and a tigress confronted each other in a standoff that very nearly broke into a fight.

The scene unfolded in April at Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, a protected area in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state. Visitors on a safari filmed the encounter and posted a video to the social platform X April 30. The video shows a tigress ( Panthera tigris ) sauntering down a dirt road and then stopping in her tracks when a bear , which appears to be a sloth bear ( Melursus ursinus ), emerges from the trees ahead. 

A rarest of rare sight of a bear charging towards a tigress, captured today at Pilibhit Tiger Reserve- A CATS( Conservation Assured Tiger Standards) habitat developed assiduously by UP Forest Department. Pl don’t miss the calm and composure of Big Cat even in face of attack &… pic.twitter.com/jU48UWpTqJ April 30, 2024

The bear wanders across the road and disappears behind long grass as the tigress watches. Moments later, as the tigress strolls on, the bear reappears and chases after her.

"A rarest of rare sight of a bear charging toward a tigress, captured today at Pilibhit Tiger Reserve," Rajiv Kumar Gupta , a retired government official with the Indian Administration Service who witnessed the encounter, wrote in the post.

In the video, the tigress whips around when she hears the bear charging after her, but she does not attack and instead stands her ground. After a few seconds of the two predators facing off, the bear retreats back into the trees.

Related: Huge cheetah that roamed China 1 million years ago would have stood face to face with a tiger

"Apex predators usually have a mutual respect for each other especially if they are of a similar size," Tara Pirie , a lecturer in ecology and conservation at the University of Surrey in the U.K. who was not on the safari at the time of the encounter, told Live Science in an email. "The tiger took time to watch the bear, sizing it up possibly to understand more about it. The bear did not show a particularly aggressive charge from the video so the tiger must have decided it was big enough to stand its ground."

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Predators of similar strength and size tend to avoid unnecessary fights, as fighting wastes energy and puts both parties at risk of injury, Pirie said.

In this case, the tigress may have been particularly reluctant to engage in a struggle because she was nursing three young cubs at the time of the encounter and could not "afford any injury," said Jitender Govindani , a professor and member of the academic council at ICBM School of Business Excellence in Hyderabad, India, who witnessed the standoff. Govindani noted the tigress appeared to surrender when the bear charged.

"The tigress lowered her guard and surrendered when the bear got into attack mode," Govindani told Live Science in an email. "Once the tigress surrendered the bear left immediately, as [it] was also not keen to fight and showed aggression just [to] show its readiness to take on the tigress head on if provoked to a fight."

Earlier in April, another tigress and her cubs ambushed and killed a crocodile in Ranthambore National Park, in India's northwestern state of Rajasthan. A video taken by visitors showed the four tigers feasting on the crocodile's carcass .

Sascha is a U.K.-based trainee staff writer at Live Science. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Southampton in England and a master’s degree in science communication from Imperial College London. Her work has appeared in The Guardian and the health website Zoe. Besides writing, she enjoys playing tennis, bread-making and browsing second-hand shops for hidden gems.

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Tiger Attacks Tourist, Kills Another at China Safari Park

A tourist was killed by a tiger and another seriously injured after getting out of their car while touring a safari park in China.

An investigation was launched into the deadly incident at the Badaling Wildlife Park in Beijing.

Surveillance video captured the moment when two visitors in the front seats of a white sedan reportedly got into an argument while driving through the tiger enclosure on Saturday.

In the video, a woman is seen getting out of the car and walking around to the driver’s side door when a tiger suddenly attacks her from behind and drags her off.

The male driver immediately chases after them but retreats. A second woman in the back of the car joins the rescue attempt but authorities said she was killed by another tiger.

Park workers were on the scene within seconds but they were too late to save the victim.

The first woman was badly mauled and sustained serious injuries.

The safari park is located at the foot of the Badaling section of the Great Wall and is one of the largest of its kind in China.

It warns all tourists to keep their car doors locked and windows fully closed while in the park.

The driver, and a child who was in the car, were said to be unharmed.

The Associated Press

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As Philippines sailor hurt in South China Sea incident, U.S. cites risk of "much more violent" confrontation

By Haley Ott

June 18, 2024 / 8:18 AM EDT / CBS News

The White House condemned China on Monday over what the Philippines called an "intentional high-speed ramming" by the Chinese Coast Guard of one of its resupply ships in the South China Sea. One Filipino sailor was seriously wounded in the collision, the Philippine military said.

"We're deeply concerned about the injuries suffered by the Philippine sailor, obviously wishing him the best in terms of his recovery," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told journalists Monday. "This kind of behavior [by China] is provocative, it's reckless, it's unnecessary, and it could lead to misunderstandings and miscalculations that could lead to something much bigger and much more violent."

The Philippines and China accused each other of causing the confrontation, involving a Philippine navy vessel carrying supplies to a small group of personnel on a grounded warship in the Second Thomas Shoal, which has long been regarded as a flashpoint that could spark a bigger conflict between the U.S. and China .

• U.S.-China ties "beginning to stabilize," but it won't be an easy road  

The U.S. and the Philippines have a mutual defense treaty that obligates the two countries to help defend one another in any major conflict. 

On Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell spoke over the phone with his Philippine counterpart and both reaffirmed that the treaty "extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft — including those of its coast guard — anywhere in the South China Sea."

There have been several incidents in recent months near the shoal, where a deliberately grounded Philippine naval ship called the Sierra Madre is maintained by the Philippine military. An attack on the ship could be viewed by the Philippines as an act of war.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said after the incident on Monday that the Philippine armed forces would resist "China's dangerous and reckless behavior," which "contravenes their statements of good faith and decency."

• China holds major war games as "powerful punishment" for Taiwan

China has become increasingly assertive in its claim to nearly all of the South China Sea, which has led to tension with other countries that also have claims to the waters, including the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan .

A new Chinese law that came into effect Saturday authorizes China's coast guard to seize foreign ships "that illegally enter China's territorial waters" and to hold foreign crews for up to 60 days, the Reuters news agency reported.

• South China Sea
• Philippines

Haley Ott is the CBS News Digital international reporter, based in the CBS News London bureau.

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