Roar power! Snarling tiger slams into fence as it pounces towards zoo visitors in hair-raising moment
- Tiger is seen standing on its hind legs with two huge paws on enclosure fence
- Big cat growls and roars at the visitors at Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire
- David Parkes, 35, filmed clip and said children were ‘excited’ to see the tiger
This is the hair-raising moment a snarling tiger throws itself at its enclosure fence, making zoo visitors squeal in fright.
David Parkes, 35, recorded the big cat at Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire while visiting with his wife, Laura, 31, and one-year-old son, Hudson.
His footage shows the tiger prowling along the edge of the enclosure before suddenly leaping towards the humans, startling them.
The tiger is seen running into a smaller section of its enclosure and turning around as it looks at the visitors.
It then jumps up on its hind legs and pushes its huge front paws against the fence twice, loudly roaring.
After getting all paws back on the floor, the tiger walks through a gap and away from the watching crowd.
Mr Parkes said he went to look at the tiger around feeding time and the animal must have known this as it went over to the inside part of the enclosure.
Mr Parkes said of the tiger’s sudden pounce: ‘It made everyone jump because you don’t expect it. People were shocked and all the kids were quite excited.
The snarling tiger jumps up at the fence and shows off its huge paws while prowling in its enclosure at Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire
While walking by the enclosure’s edge the tiger growls at the visitors (left) and then pounces twice (right) to show them who is boss
‘Everybody wanted to see the video. I thought it was great. I’d never seen anything like that before and I felt safe because he was behind the cage bars.’
It wasn’t the first time either – Mr Parkes said the big cat had already taken a running jump towards them before he started filming.
The carpenter, from Stevenage, is unsure why the tiger took such an interest in him, but has a theory.
The zoo visitors laugh and squeal as the tiger lunges towards them from its enclosure
After jumping the big cat walks through a gap in the inner fence and appears to stroll away
David Parkes, 35, filmed the tiger while at Paradise Wildlife Park with his wife and son
‘I was looking at him, because obviously he was walking up and down as I was going up and down,’ he said. ‘So I wonder if it’s because I was looking at him, because that’s aggressive behaviour to animals.’
Tigers can respond aggressively to humans for a variety of reasons. For example, if a human surprises a sleeping or feeding tiger, especially a tigress with cubs, they may launch an attack.
They can also mistake humans for other prey, or simply feel they are too close. But they show no preference for human meat and most will only attack humans for food if they cannot satisfy their needs otherwise.