Depressed factory worker is mauled by Chinese zoo's white tiger after offering HIMSELF up as food in front of horrified onlookers
Chinese zoo keepers managed to save the
life of a mentally disturbed man after he announced he wanted to improve
the lives of caged tigers at a local zoo by offering them his own body
to eat.
Yang Jinhai, 27, had
posted several online messages about how optimistic he was about
starting a new life after getting a job as a security guard in Chengdu
in southwest China's Sichuan province.
But
he quickly found the job boring and monotonous and moved instead to a
job in a printing factory where he also then resigned, saying that he
felt there was more to life.
After going to the local zoo he wrote
how depressing it was to see the ‘noble and magnificent tigers’ living
in such humble surroundings, where they were caged and unable to follow
their natural instincts to hunt and kill.
He then announced that he had decided to sacrifice himself in order to provide the Bengal tigers with support.
Eyewitness
Feng Lin said: ‘He climbed up the outside of the cage and jumped inside
expecting, I assume, that the tigers would pounce on him. Instead the
two tigers, a male and a female, seemed more nervous than anything else
and the female actually ran off.
‘He
then tried to antagonise the tigers by pulling faces at them.
Eventually he was attacked by the male where he was cut after being
scratched and bitten before he could be rescued by zoo keepers who fired
a tranquilliser dart at the male tiger.’
They then pulled the man out of the cage.
Yang's
family told local media Mr Jinhai had been depressed for a long time
and said that he had been taken to a home where he was given psychiatric
counselling to cope with his problems.