Zookeeper Bear Attack Caught On Video, Shanghai Zoo Says It’s ‘Extremely Distressed’

Tourists at China’s Shanghai Wild Animal Park were shocked when they saw bears mauling a zookeeper. The man was killed Saturday.

Shanghai Wild Animal Park advertises an area of the park as a reverse experience where humans are the ones contained.

“In drive-through area, animals live in their nature habitat, while humans are kept in a ‘cage.’ At one moment, herds of zebras, antelopes, wildebeests, and rhinoceros are grazing by your side. At the next moment, alpha males of cheetahs, Manchurian tigers, African lions, bears and wolves are leading their pack to start a savage attack,” the English version of their website says.

That experience got a little too real on Saturday. Tourists saw the attack from a vehicle, BBC reports. This particular area of the park allows the animals to roam freely while tourists watch from designated vehicles. A bus full of animal watchers were horrified when they realized the bears were attacking a man.

Shanghai Wildlife Park said on their website that they are "extremely distressed that such a tragedy occurred.” The zoo also “apologized to tourists for any inconvenience caused.”

Video of the incident circulated on Chinese social media platform Weibo. Australian outlet ABC News says the video was viewed over 658,000 times within 18 hours.

State media said another employee working on heavy machinery nearby drove towards the pack of bears to try to scare them off. However, it was too late to save the zoo employee.

Shanghai Wild Animal Park has over 10,000 animals from 200 species. The park has been open for 25 years.