NAPLES, Fla. – Wildlife experts are speaking out after The Naples Zoo Malayan tiger, Eko, died Wednesday night.
Collier County Deputies shot the tiger after it latched on to a cleaning worker who stuck his arm in the enclosure.
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Vernon Yates, tiger expert and director of Rescue and Rehabilitation in Seminole, said when things like this happen it is normally human error.
“I’m sure the cleaning crew was in places they should’ve been and that’s almost impossible to stop,” Yates said.
Yates is a freelance wildlife trapper, rehabilitator and exotic animal owner, featured in the Netflix documentary Tiger King.
“I think these are scenarios that the state of Florida (has to discuss), no harm should come to the zoo, because the zoo at the best of my knowledge right now did nothing wrong,” Yates said.
He said in this circumstance, with the investigation continuing, he believes tragedies occur when someone does not follow the rules.
“It is the simple case of somebody who doesn’t listen,” Yates said. “Sadly the tiger pays the price every time.”
He said it’s a tragedy that is hard to avoid since people are involved.
“It is always a tragedy when people do stupidity and the animal pays the price,” Yates said. “It doesn’t make a difference if it’s endangered or not it’s that it’s something somebody shouldn’t have been messing with, they shouldn’t have been there.”
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