Lion bites off zoo worker's finger in front of visitors in horrifying footage

dailyrecord.co.uk:

This is the moment a zoo keeper had his finger bitten off by a lion in front of horrified visitors as he dangles his hand through a cage.The incident took place in Jamaica Zoo, in St Elizabeth on Friday, and was caught on camera by an unsuspecting crowd.In gruesome footage, the man appears to try and pet the clearly agitated lion, which nips at the zoo worker's hand a few times as he continues to touch it.

The lion then grabs hold of the man's finger through the enclosure and refuses to let go as zoo visitors look on in shock, the Mirror reports.

A visitor, who did not want to be named, said that the lion bit off the entire top section of the zoo worker's finger, from the first joint.

She told the Jamaica Observer, around 15 people were watching at the time. The woman explained that a tour of the zoo had come to an end and the worker was trying to impress the crowd.“When it happened, I thought it was a joke," she said. "I didn’t think it was serious.