Jaguar attacks woman who climbed zoo barrier for selfie

A woman has escaped with stitches after being seized by a jaguar while trying to take a selfie at a zoo in Arizona.

The visitor in her 30s reportedly climbed over the waist-height barrier separating onlookers from the barred jaguar cage at the Wildlife World Zoo near Phoenix on Saturday, NBC reports.

As she attempted to take a selfie, a female big cat lashed out and attacked her arm. She was saved from more serious injury after a quick-thinking bystander threw a water bottle into the enclosure, momentarily distracting the big cat.

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“At that moment, I grabbed the girl around the torso and pulled her away from the cage and it unlatches from her claw,” eyewitness Adam Wilkerson told Fox 10 Phoenix.

Wilkerson filmed other zoo visitors comforting the shaking and bleeding woman as they waited for emergency services. A gash is clearly visible on her arm.

(Warning: video contains graphic content)

She was taken to hospital, where she received stitches before being released the same day.

The clash raised fears among some animal-lovers that the jaguar could be euthanised, as frequently occurs after animal attacks on humans.

However, in a tweet, the zoo assured concerned commenters that “nothing will happen” to the big cat.

Fox correspondent Jennifer Auh later tweeted that the injured woman had apologised to the zoo and taken responsibility for what happened.

A man has since told ABC15 that he needed eight stitches after being clawed by the same jaguar after reaching over a barrier to film the big cat last summer.

“I never stepped over a barrier, I was behind the barrier and just reached my arm out,” Jeff Allan said, adding that he had contemplated legal action to force the zoo to reinforce protection for visitors.

“I mean, a kid could cross over this barrier if he wanted to,” he said.

The jaguar is currently not available for public viewing.