Man mauled by tiger while taking selfie in Phuket; the Internet questions the safety in animal parks

In a recently surfaced viral video, a man is attacked by a tiger while trying to take a selfie at a tiger park in Phuket. Before the incident happened, the man is seen walking beside the tiger before crouching to pose for a photograph.

Tiger mauls man at an animal park in Thailand

People visiting Phuket, never misses to put a visit to the Tiger Kingdom on their itinerary. But this visit turned into a horrifying moment for an Indian tourist after he was attacked by a tiger while attempting to take a selfie with it.

A video of the incident was posted by X user Sidharth Shukla with the caption: “Apparently an Indian man was attacked by a tiger in Thailand. This is one of those places where they keep tigers like pets and people can take selfies, feed them etc etc.”

In the video, the man is seen walking beside a tiger at the park before crouching to pose for a photograph. A trainer, in the meantime, tried to get the animal to sit using a stick, but what happened next was nothing short of terrifying as the tiger turned aggressive and lunged at the man.

The video has gone viral with over 3.3 million views on X:

In the comments section, Shukla informed that the man survived “apparently with minor injuries”.

Several users, meanwhile, questioned the safety protocols in such wildlife spots and the welfare of the animals involved.

“Always avoid such stunts. Animals are animals. Be good and kind to them. But don’t expect them to return the favour because, they are animals,” a user said. Another user added, “Such reckless ventures can quickly become deadly, turning an exciting moment into a tragic end. Responsible travel demands caution and respect for the untamed power of wildlife.” Another user added, "While what happened to the guy is sad. It also proof that these animals are not meant to be drugged and kept prisoners. Tigers are wild animals-not pets."

Critics have long warned about the dangers of allowing close interaction with wild animals in captive settings, where the animals are just rightly sedated to be used for photo ops, but at times unnatural conditions may provoke dangerous behaviour.

Visitor safety in animal parks

The tragedy in Phuket is not a stray incident. An Australian tourist was bitten by a big monkey, while he was feeding it, at a tourist resort in Indonesia. "I had four injections into my scalp. The right side of my head was puffed up like a balloon,” he had said.

Wild animals in captivity are often forced into unnatural and uncomfortable proximity to people, offering rides, being pet and touched, being fed and posing for photos. For example, resorts in the Caribbean, Mexico, and parts of Asia advertise interactions with animals (and often charge significant amounts of money). These animals endure cruel training, and sometimes drugging, to render them tame enough to interact with humans. And, despite this brutal training, these animals, because they remain essentially “wild” – still pose a potential threat to public safety.

Why is it wrong?

Cubs are taken away from their mothers

Because of their small size, ease of handling, and cute appearance, animal babies are commonly used for photo opportunities. Lion and tiger cubs are taken from their mothers at a very young age and transported to different venues and events, where they are passed from person to person for pictures. Not only is this stressful for the young animals, being taken from their mothers robs them of the chance to learn important survival skills.

The adult animals are drugged

The cubs in captivity, when they grow up, become too large, strong, and unpredictable to handle, and are commonly drugged in order to render them sedate enough to continue to be around humans.

It does not provide any aid to wildlife conservation

Venues offering “close-up” wild animal encounters often claim that these activities aid in wildlife conservation efforts, duping people into thinking they are actually helping animals by petting them and taking photos with them. In truth, these venues are all about entertainment and profit, not conservation.

Dangerous for both parties

Whether taking a photo with a captive wild animal or an animal found in the wild, the situation in inherently dangerous for both the humans and the animals. Cruel training methods and sedatives might render wild animals "tame", but those measures cannot domesticate them, a process which takes many hundreds or thousands of years. Therefore, wild animals remain unpredictable and liable to attack, just the way it happened at Phuket's Tiger Kingdom.