This is the moment a zoo keeper had his finger bitten off by a lion in front of horrified visitors as he dangles his hand through a cage.
The incident took place in Jamaica Zoo, in St Elizabeth on Friday, and was caught on camera by an unsuspecting crowd.
In gruesome footage, the man appears to try and pet the clearly agitated lion, which nips at the zoo worker's hand a few times as he continues to touch it.
The lion then grabs hold of the man's finger through the enclosure and refuses to let go as zoo visitors look on in shock, the Mirror reports.
A visitor, who did not want to be named, said that the lion bit off the entire top section of the zoo worker's finger, from the first joint.
She told the Jamaica Observer, around 15 people were watching at the time.
The woman explained that a tour of the zoo had come to an end and the worker was trying to impress the crowd.
“When it happened, I thought it was a joke," she said. "I didn’t think it was serious. I didn’t realise the seriousness of it, because it’s their job to put on a show,” she said.
“Obviously, when he fell on the ground everybody realised that it was serious. Everybody started to panic,” she added.
The visitor said she and other were left stunned but the incident.
“The entire skin and about the first joint of his finger was gone,” she said.
The zoo worker is said to have got up and walked to a vehicle before leaving the zoo.
The Jamaica Observer contacted Jamaica Zoo who said they were not aware of the incident.
A senior police source was also apparently unaware of the attack.
Managing director at the Jamaica Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Pamela Lawson told the newspaper she would be looking into the incident.
“We will be going down there and I will be communicating with the National Environment and Planning Agency who has oversight over Jamaica Zoo,” she said.
The attraction has a host of animals including llama, zebras, monkeys, crocodiles and toucans.
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