Unbelievable footage has emerged of a presumably insane man who had to be rescued from a tiger enclosure after jumping into the compound to ‘practice a somersault’.
The incident took place in a zoo in Henan Province in central China and the footage – aired on China Central Television (CCTV) – shows the man calmly sitting in a cable car before deciding to put his gymnastic capabilities to the test.
The 40-year-old jumps from the chairlift into the tiger enclosure below, but far from being a ‘somersault’ it looks more like someone chucked a sack of potatoes off the back of a truck. Fortunately for him he lands in a net above the tigers who can be seen circling below him.
The want-to-be gymnast was rescued by zoo-keeper, Wang Jianluo, who told CCTV:
When I was trying to save him on the net, he said to me that he ‘hadn’t done a good somersault’. After hearing that, I didn’t know what to say to him.
The guy was promptly arrested for disturbing public order following the ‘stunt’ after he reportedly told police that he was ‘so overcome with excitement’ while passing above the enclosure that he had to jump off. Well fair enough then mate…
