Some Non-Political Stupidity

Here's a story from this week that did not get a lot of attention but it demonstrates clearly that there are people out there, other than our politicians, who do stupid things. Really stupid things.

 A man who jumped into the big cat's den at New York City's Bronx Zoo was (to no surprise) critically injured by a tiger. The tiger retreated only after emergency workers scared it off with a fire extinguisher.

The man, 25, was riding the zoo's monorail in the afternoon and leapt from a car, clearing a fence around the tiger enclosure. A statement from the zoo did not explain why the man to jumped into the tiger den. He has been taken to a local hospital and is in critical condition.

"It looks like he had some very severe wounds on his back or his torso," said Frank Dwyer, a fire department spokesman. He said he did not know whether the wounds were caused by teeth or claws. "One leg was severely injured," he said, although he could not confirm early reports that the man lost a foot in the incident.

Earlier this year, tigers at a Danish zoo in Copenhagen killed a man who scaled a fence and crossed a moat to get into their den in July, and wolves at Sweden's largest zoo killed a zookeeper in their enclosure in June.

Yes, there are people out there that do crazy and stupid things and not all of them are elected officials....

UPDATE: The young man is apparently doing fine at the hospital and will recover. When asked why he jumped into the Tiger Den he said: "I wanted to be one with the tiger." Well, if the zookeepers had been just a little further away he would have been....

Live Long and Prosper....