Man was found dead Wednesday inside a tiger den at the Copenhagen Zoo

[Randi]

How tragic.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18798542

http://news.yahoo.com/tigers-fatally...144441549.html

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- A 21-year-old man was found dead Wednesday inside a tiger den at the Copenhagen Zoo after having received a fatal bite to his throat, Danish police said.

Lars Borg, a spokesman for the Copenhagen police, said it was unclear how or why the man had entered the pit, but said investigators could not exclude suicide as a motive. The victim is a foreign national who holds a Danish residence permit, but police would not immediately release his identity or his nationality.

"Everything indicates that the tigers have killed him," Borg said, noting an examination of the body showed the man had been bitten on the thigh, chest, face and throat.

His body was found surrounded by the park's three Siberian tigers by a zookeeper early on Wednesday morning.

Borg said the man appeared to have entered the tiger area from a low wall surrounding the den and then ending up in the moat inside the enclosure. "He has been in the water and the animals must have seen that and attacked him," Borg said.

Investigators were going through CCTV-camera footage to try to establish the man's path inside the park.

Copenhagen Zoo manager Steffen Straede says it is the first time in the zoo's 152-year history that such an incident has occurred, and there were no plans to reassess its security or to put the tigers down.

"If a person really wants to get in (there), we cannot prevent it from happening," he said.

[Karen]

How sad. I am glad no one is blaming the tigers.

[Randi]

Me too, Karen. They were only defending their territory and were most likely happy to get a snack beside their ordinary meals. I wonder why the man was there, it seems he made quite an effort to get to them.

Poor men who found him - and the man's family.

[kittycats_delight]

Very happy they have said that the tigers will not be put down. I was actually thinking to myself...why would they? I guess it is necessary to say it publicly though. I don't blame the tigers one bit. They don't have a huge territory in captivity so I would think they would be even more territorial over the bit they do have than they would normally be. The young man getting into the den is odd. He must have really wanted in there for so reason or other. The only other thing I could think of would be someone chucked him in but that seems out there. I hope they find some information so they can atleast give some closure to the whole thing. I

[Kirsten]

Very sad! I'm also glad no one blamed the tigers.