A man scaled several fences and ignored numerous warning signs while trying to get into a tiger enclosure at a Boston zoo, and it didn’t end well for him.
A Worcester, Massachusetts man has been arrested for attempting to enter a tiger enclosure at Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo. While going to jail is a bad ending, it could have been much worse, and this man is extremely lucky.
When questioned by the Massachusetts State Police, the man simply stated that the reason for his actions was that he was very interested in tigers.
The man, 24 year old Matthew Abraham, allegedly climbed over a gate to get into the zoo at approximately 9 a.m., then proceeded to scale several fences, ignoring numerous warning signs. He was ultimately unable to gain access to the tiger enclosure, according to investigators.
Zoo New England, a private, non-profit, 501 (c) (3) organization that operates the 72-acre Boston zoo, released a statement regarding the incident, saying that the man entered an area behind the tiger exhibit that was not meant for the public. When he was approached by the staff, Abraham ran off, but was quickly found by security guards.
“Zoo Security was called and they, along with additional staff, immediately began a search for the trespasser, who was quickly located,” the statement read. “State Police responded and removed him from the property. No animals, nor people, were injured.”
Abraham has been charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Speaking with a news outlet outside of his home after the ordeal, he claimed that he went to the zoo with the goal of staring into the tiger’s soul and achieving some sort of mystical experience.
“I was just walking around trying to see if I made eye contact with this tiger, what’s going to happen to me,” Abraham said.
But he insists that he didn’t scale any fences and that he didn’t realize the zoo wasn’t open. CBS Boston reports: “Abraham insists he thought the place was open because the gate was and didn’t realize he was in a restricted area until security confronted him… Abraham says the only time he hopped fences was trying to get out after security scolded him.”
“The gate shouldn’t have been open, I walked in,” Abraham said. “I didn’t mean to harm anybody, I wasn’t looking to harm the tiger, I wasn’t looking to harm myself neither.”
“When the tiger growled at me, I thought I could be in danger,” he added. “However, there was a fence between me and the tiger, so I wasn’t actually in the enclave with the tiger.”
“Hopefully it will be forgiven as a misunderstanding because that’s what I believe it was,” he claims.