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Drunk Woman Bitten By Tiger — Will The Animal Be Put Down?

By Toni Matthews
Published on: 22:31 PST, Nov 2, 2015

A drunk woman got a sobering wake-up call after an unamused tiger took a chunk out of her hand.

Police in Omaha, Neb. claim a woman broke into the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in the early hours of Sunday morning. The woman, Jacqueline Eide, somehow thought that trying to pet one of the zoo’s tigers would be a great way to spend her Halloween weekend. The 33-year-old woman was allegedly aided in reaching this conclusion by copious amounts of alcohol.

Despite her best efforts at making nice with a tiger at the zoo, the animal was far from interested. Instead, she got horrific hand injury for her troubles. A friend of Eide drove her to the Creighton University Medical Center for treatment. At about 7:20 a.m., local police were called to the medical facility. According to Reuters, a police report stated that the woman, “was aggressive toward staff and showed signs of intoxication of alcohol and/or drugs.”

When law enforcement officials arrived, they soon learned about the drunk woman’s previous activities, and exactly why she’d been bitten. ABC News reports that Jacqueline was soon after cited for criminal trespassing. It’s unknown if additional charges will be forthcoming as the investigation into the tiger-related incident is ongoing.

Also unknown is the extent of the injuries to the woman involved. ABC News stated that Eide suffered “severe injuries to multiple fingers on her left hand” thanks to the tiger bite. A spokeswoman for Creighton University Medical Center told the press that Jacqueline was in “fair condition” as of Monday, speaking on behalf of the suspect as she’d declined requests to comment on her Halloween hijinks.

What of the tiger in all of this? Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium officials think that the animal involved was an 18-year-old Malayan tiger named Mai. The animal reportedly has three legs and was brought to the Omaha zoo in 2003. There’s no word what will happen to Mai, or if the zoo may be somehow found responsible for the bizarre incident. In the immediate aftermath of the drunk woman’s actions, the Omaha zoo stated that in the case of an event like this, emergency numbers are printed on maps throughout the entire location. Also, there is security staff on hand around the clock to prevent harm to human visitors — or the zoo’s animals.

Said Dennis Pate, the zoo’s executive director and CEO, “The safety and security of our guests and animals are always a priority at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium.”

“We will continue to keep security a top priority for Zoo guests and animals.”

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time someone has been bitten by a tiger at the zoo. In 2009, the zoo’s director of animal health, Dr. Douglas Armstrong was bitten by a tiger during a medical exam. Fortunately, it was a minor incident, and the animal was unconscious at the time. This most recent situation is much different in that it was brought on by someone’s terrible life decisions.

As for the no-longer-drunk woman involved, well, it turns out that this isn’t the first time that she’s gotten into trouble for being some place she shouldn’t. The Omaha World-Herald reports that Jacqueline has a long history of criminal trespassing. In 2008, she was arrested and sentenced to six months in jail following a DUI; Eide also had her license revoked.

One can only hope that if this woman gets drunk from now on, it will be in the comforts of her own home. If not, perhaps she’ll be wise enough to steer clear of tigers at local zoos.

There is apparently some concern that Eide might sue or otherwise hold the zoo accountable for her severe injuries. Given her ability to get close enough to the zoo animal to be bitten, do you feel that Eide would have a case? What do you think should happen to the tiger in question? Share your thoughts below!

[Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images]

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