The incident happened in the same county where a tiger attacked a man at a zoo.
March 22, 2022, 10:50 p.m.
• 5 min read
A man has been attacked by a tiger at a Florida Everglades attraction after entering the animal shelter, authorities said.
The incident happened on Tuesday afternoon in Collier County, the same county where a man was attacked by a tiger in a zoo three months ago.
“We have a hard time understanding this happening again, but want to share this news with you,” the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Facebook Tuesday.
Deputies responded to a tiger attack on Wooten’s Everglades Airboat Tours in Ochopee at 4.30pm, authorities said.
“Preliminary (complete) information shows that a tiger was fed in an area at the place of that [sic] Operators, like a 50-year-old man, an employee of Wooten, who was not authorized to be with the tiger, and the tiger came into the house, “the sheriff said.” The tiger attacked the man and injured him on both arms. .
The man was transported to a local hospital. The sheriff’s office has no updates on his condition after the attack.
The tiger’s care was able to “contain” the animal safely and it was not injured, the sheriff said.
ABC News reached out to Wooten’s Everglades Airboat Tours for comment.
According to its website, Wooten’s is home to an animal shelter, as well as offering tours of the Everglades and a live alligator show.
This is not the first time in recent months that Collier County Sheriff’s deputies have had to respond to a tiger attack.
On December 29, deputies were called to the Naples Zoo after a maintenance worker entered an unauthorized area and stopped his arm in a tiger area, authorities said.
A responding Collier County deputy found the man with his arm in the tiger’s mouth and shot the 8-year-old male Malayan Tiger Eko as he could not get it to free the arm, authorities said.
Last month, the sheriff’s office announced that it would not prosecute the man, River Rosenquist.
“After a thorough investigation of the incident and after consultation with experts in state and federal criminal law and the prosecution of the same, it was concluded that there are no applicable existing laws with which Mr. River Rosenquist has blamed for his irresponsible actions, which ultimately caused the death of Tiger Eko, “the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “Simply put, there are no laws about the books that apply to this reckless act. We know this is very difficult for anyone to understand. It is difficult for us to understand.”
Rosenquist’s arm was severely damaged in the attack, but doctors were able to prevent the amputation, his family said.
“While River’s recovery is unknown, the family remains steadfast in their belief in its future improvement over the long haul,” his family said in a statement to ABC News about their lawyer last month. “River’s mental health and recovery continue to be our primary focus and we remain grateful for the respect and privacy that everyone has allowed the family to have during this difficult process.”
ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Lisa Sivertsen contributed to this report.
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