Seeking the “ultimate selfie” with some of nature’s most dangerous animals came with tragic consequences for these people
A haunting image shows a man cowering in terror seconds before a giant tiger mauls him to death. The terrifying incident emerged after a woman was pictured posing with a snow leopard before she was brutally attacked.
The snap shows a skier happily smiling in front of the wild animal on the slopes of Koktokay in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
But moments after it was taken, the leopard launched into a ferocious attack, mauling her face and coming dangerously close to raking its teeth across her skull.
The blood from her wounds also spilled out onto her purple ski suit, which appeared to have been left stained red as she was rushed to hospital. Doctors later confirmed the woman had not sustained life-threatening injuries from the attack, and was in a stable condition.
People aren’t always as lucky when getting up close and personal with the predators of the wild. Here, we take a look back at chilling snaps of creatures moments before they brutally killed their human counterparts.
Tiger obsession
Maqsood Khan, 22, had an “obsession with tigers” and after climbing into a white tiger’s moat at New Delhi Zoo in 2014, he unsurprisingly met a damning end.
Once inside, he alerted Vijay, an endangered tiger, and horrified onlookers filmed the ensuing horror. Maqsood was seized by the neck and dragged back to its enclosure where the young man’s fate was sealed.
A witness spoke of hearing screams before finding the man “writhing badly in pain” while locked inside the tiger’s jaws. His mutilated remains were not recovered for two hours until eventually the tiger was coaxed into a small cage.
The government later blamed Maqsood for the “misadventure” saying he chose to ignore warnings before climbing into the enclosure.
Photo before death
Charles Gibbs, 40, had a huge fascination with bears, and in April 1987, he was on a quest to capture the perfect photo that would ultimately cost him his life.
He was exploring the Glacier National Park in Montana when he snapped pictures of bears in the distance.
However, after taking another photo, this time closer at just 50 yards away from the animals, it showed the female grizzly bear and her three cubs charging towards him, in what became an eerie shot.
Panicked, Charles fled down the mountain and climbed a tree before the mother bear reportedly pulled him down. He was then bit and scratched. Despite briefly getting away, the bear pounced again, and killed him.
He was hiking Elk Mountain with his wife Glenda when the tragedy unfolded.
After his body was found, assistant park superintendent Alan O’Neill said that Charles “knew what he was getting into” and added: “The human in this case was the intruder.”
At the time of his death, Charles had a gun on him, but his wife said he would not have harmed the bear in such a way.
Safari slaughter
In 2016, another fatal animal attack involving a tiger occurred, this time at the Badaline Wildlife Park in Beijing.
Chinese woman Mrs Zhao left her car to rescue her daughter, Mei, who had encountered a Siberian tiger after breaking car rules by leaving the car after a family argument.
Mei was dragged into the undergrowth by the tiger as her mum rushed out to help.
What happened next was captured on chilling CCTV. Her mum and husband were seen rushing to help when a tiger pounced. However, Mrs Zhao met a cruel end at the hands of a second tiger lurking nearby.
The wildlife park was shut down for an investigation but was reopened after it was found to have done nothing wrong, despite the victim’s family seeking legal action.
Chilling audio
A couple, who regularly posed in now haunting photos with bears, had their chilling final moments caught on audio.
Timothy Treadwell, who called himself ‘Grizzle Man’, and Amie Huguenard were in the Alaskan forest in October 2003 when they were eaten alive by a bear.
Grizzle Man recorded his final moments on video camera without knowing and he was heard yelling: “Get out! I’m getting killed out here!”
He had spent 13 summers camping with wild brown bears in Alaska. In the haunting clip, his petrified girlfriend shouted “play dead” after leaving their tent to come to his rescue.
The bear let go for a second, but then dragged him away, as Timothy urged her to “hit the bear”.
His partner used a frying pan before her bloody-curdling screams were heard just before the camera cut out. The couple were devoured and Timothy’s head was found nearby.
After being later shot dead, four bin bags full of human remains were found inside its stomach.
