Tigers Kill Intruder at Danish Zoo

Police don't know why 21-year-old broke into zoo at night
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 12, 2012 12:03 AM CDT
Tigers Kill Intruder at Danish Zoo
Zoo manager Steffen Straede is interviewed in Copenhagen’s Zoo, Copenhagen yesterday after a 20-year-old man was found dead in the tiger pen.   (AP Photo/Polfoto/Linda Johansen)

A 20-year-old man in Copenhagen was killed by tigers yesterday after he broke into a zoo in the early morning hours, then crossed a fence and moat into the big cats' enclosure, reports the Daily Mail. The young man, who was of Afghan descent, was about to finish high school and had just received Danish citizenship last month. He was discovered by zookeepers when they arrived for work in the morning.

"I'm absolutely shattered," said a friend of the man. "He was a really, really nice guy." Police are not ruling out suicide, but for now they have no explanation for his actions. "If a person really wants to get in there, we cannot prevent it from happening," says the zoo head, adding that the zoo had no plans to improve the facility's security because of the killing. (More Copenhagen stories.)

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