A horrifying tragedy unfolded at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo after a leopard escaped its enclosure and fatally mauled a zookeeper, authorities confirmed.
Uriel Nuri, a 36-year-old employee, was attacked while preparing for a behind-the-scenes tour and later died from devastating wounds to his neck and upper body, despite emergency efforts to save him, according to the Daily Mail.
Local reports say the leopard escaped its habitat and reached an inner courtyard where it pounced on Nuri, delivering what would become fatal injuries. Emergency responders rushed him to Hadassah-University Medical Centre in Ein Kerem in critical condition, but doctors were unable to save him.
Paramedic Dov Shari described the frantic scene to the Jerusalem Post:
“I ran over and saw a man lying unconscious, with significant injuries to his neck. We immediately attempted to stop the bleeding, and very quickly, another team arrived. We gave him life-saving treatment, including CPR, before he was evacuated for further treatment.”
The zoo issued a statement confirming the terrifying chain of events: “During a routine activity to prepare food for the leopards, which took place as part of a behind-the-scenes tour for visitors of the zoo, a leopard managed to escape from the leopard house into the inner courtyard and attacked one of the zoo employees.”
The statement also clarified: “At no point was there any physical danger to the visitors, who were protected behind a glass window.”
Police arrived shortly after and were seen entering the leopard’s enclosure. An official investigation is now underway, and the zoo says it’s working closely with Israel Police to determine exactly how the animal breached containment.
But the tragedy casts a dark shadow over the facility — and it’s not the first of its kind.
Just last year, a crocodile escaped its enclosure at the same zoo and seriously wounded a staff member, prompting a deadly response. A security guard who witnessed the crocodile attack shot and killed the animal on the spot.
In that incident, the 45-year-old staffer was placed in intensive care after being sedated.
Now, with a second life lost under eerily similar circumstances, serious questions are being raised about animal safety protocols and the zoo’s containment procedures. Two dangerous escapes. Two critically injured staffers — one now dead.
Authorities and zoo officials are promising answers. But for the family of Uriel Nuri, and a community shaken by yet another violent incident, those answers can’t come soon enough.
