ANIMAL ATTACK FILES
Special Report forwarded to the Animal Attack Files by "Alex":
| Oklahoma Zookeeper Loses Arm In Tapir Attack
Report of November 20, 1998 |
| OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - A Malayan tapir
Friday bit off the arm of a woman keeper who was feeding it in its pen,
Oklahoma City zoo director Steve Wylie said.
The woman, whose name and age had not been released, was in critical condition at a local hospital, "She was severely injured, and dismembered her left arm. She received a lot of other lacerations and probably some broken bones," Wylie said. He said the female tapir had an infant, which may have been part of the reason it attacked. The Malayan tapir, a native of southeast Asia, resembles a black and white pig with an extended snout. It can weigh 800 pounds and on average grows to a height of three feet at the shoulder. |