No changes for Berlin zoo even after bear attack

April 13th, 2009 • Related • Filed Under

By RACHEL NOLAN

BERLIN (AP) — The Berlin zoo doesn’t plan to change security measures even after a polar bear attacked a woman who managed to jump into the bears’ enclosure last week, an incident caught on video.

“It is already safe,” zoo spokesman Heiner Kloes said Monday.

The woman, who has not been identified, climbed down a fence, over a wide hedge full of thorns and got past a concrete wall before swan diving into the murky moat where the polar bears swim.

One of four bears in the enclosure bit the woman’s arms, legs and back before keepers rescued her out with a life preserver.

An empty box of a life belt is seen next to the polar bear enclosure at Berlin Zoo in Berlin, Friday, April 10, 2009. Police say a woman jumped into the polar bear enclosure and was bitten several times on her arms and legs by one of the four older polar bears in the enclosure. The woman was not bitten by the famous Knut, who took Germany by storm as a cub after he was hand-raised by a keeper. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer)

The woman was taken to Berlin’s Charite hospital for treatment and is still recovering, the Bild newspaper reported Monday. The hospital did not return phone calls seeking comment.

It was not clear what made the woman circumvent all those security measures and jump in with four large, fully grown polar bears. Police did not provide any motive for the incident.

Last year, a man who said celebrity polar bear Knut looked “lonely” hurdled over a water-filled ditch into his enclosure at the same zoo. The 37-year-old emerged unscathed after keepers lured Knut away with a leg of beef.

An older bear attacked Friday’s leaper.

Despite visitors’ repeated attempts to hug the huge, powerful bears, keepers have no plans to change the zoo’s setup. The concrete wall protecting the polar bears’ enclosure will not be built up higher than its current three feet (90 centimeters), nor will more guards be posted, Kloes said.

“People who want to jump in will always find a way,” he added.

There Are 2 Responses So Far. »

Comment by Jae on 1 December 2009:

I wonder, what on earth was the woman thinking when she climbed the wall to jump in the water where she knowingly knew was home to the Polar Bears. I’m sorry for her ignorance but surely this not the fault of the polar bear. The polar bears were not the ones to climb the wall. I’m glad to hear she’a alright, but perhaps ignoring the rules doesn’t make it any better. I say she should be fined for such an act.
Comment by Carol on 1 December 2009:

There is something wrong with lady because no sane person would do all what she did to reach these wild animals and that is fact.
What she did was very wrong and it has nothing to do with the zoo they had so much there to make sure that animals could not escape that they can not do anymore than they did and that is a fact.

The woman should get some kind of fine and a stiff one at that so other people won’t so the same act and that is a fact.