UPDATE: Police say they've identified and charged the woman. Latest details here.
Police are searching for a woman who was caught on video enticing a tiger at an enclosure at the Cohanzick Zoo in Bridgeton, New Jersey.
Police said the unidentified woman went over the wooden fence at the tiger enclosure at the zoo, located on Mayor Aitken Drive in Bridgeton. She then began enticing the tiger and was nearly bitten, police said.
The incident was captured on video by another visitor early Sunday morning.
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In the video you can see that the woman is very close to the tiger. You can see her pull her hand away from the tiger as the tiger jumps up. She then turns around and jumps over the fence that separates visitors from the tiger exhibit.
Police said climbing over any fence at the zoo is a violation of the city ordinance.
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“So, you'll see them get really kind of agitated they'll do kind of like you saw in the video, that pacing back and forth motion, you’ll see their tail going," Avery Menear, an animal keeper at the zoo, said.
Menear said the tiger seen in the video is 7-year-old Mahesha who is a bit more aggressive than the rest of the tigers. That is why the zoo has several signs advising visitors to not cross the line.
“There were children here, right over there that could’ve seen someone lose a hand or worse," Director of Recreation and Public Affairs City of Bridgeton, John Medica said.
He was glad other visitors noticed what the woman was doing and sent the video to his office.
“If our animal would’ve bitten her the animal may have had to be euthanized and we saw that before with the Harambe situation," Medica said.
If you have any information on the woman’s identity, please contact Bridgeton Police at 856-451-0033 ext. 0.
