A Siberian tiger mauled a defenceless zookeeper as terrified visitors desperately tried to save her.
The woman was bringing food for the huge beast when it suddenly jumped on her and pinned her to the ground.
Amazingly, her life was saved by the shocked onlookers who shouted and threw stones at the tiger in a bid to distract it.
Men even lifted a table and chairs from a nearby cafe, hurling them over the fence to distract the 15-year-old male tiger called Taifun, or Typhoon.
The unnamed employee at the Kaliningrad Zoo in Russia was badly mauled but was rushed to hospital is expected to survive.
Alarming pictures show the woman on the back on the ground with the tiger on top of her seemingly going for the kill.
But at this point, the zoo visitors’ screamed, shouted, and threw stones and other nearby objects to try to catch the tiger’s attention.
The commotion alerted other visitors who ran to join the hero onlookers saving the woman who was able to run to a secure part of the compound.
“The girl’s face face was bleeding,” said one account based on the accounts of witnesses.
“She screamed and tried to fight off the animal.”
Other zoo employees were not present at the moment of the surprise attack, and it was down to the Russian visitors to save the keeper.
The Siberian tiger – the largest cat in the world – was supposed to be contained in another part of its compound when the woman brought its food.
The UK Mirror
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