Youth trespasses into white rhino enclosure at Singapore Zoo; police investigating

SINGAPORE - The police are investigating an incident involving a youth who trespassed into the white rhinoceros enclosure at the Singapore Zoo on Thursday (Dec 17).

Videos circulating online show the man doing a backflip inside the enclosure with the rhinos, before leaping over the barricade and back onto the visitors' walk path.

The original video was uploaded onto the youth's TikTok account, which has around 33,000 followers, but it appears to have been taken down.

The Wildlife Reserves Singapore told The Straits Times that it filed a police report on Thursday.

It condemned the youth's actions in an Instagram story posted on Friday, calling it a "reckless and mindless act which is socially irresponsible, extremely dangerous and simply disrespectful to wildlife and animals".

The zoo operator also urged people not to pull such stunts, as lives could be put in danger.

In November 2008, Malaysian contract worker was mauled to death by three white tigers after deliberately climbing into the exhibit at the Singapore Zoo.

The 32-year-old man, who worked as a cleaner, had jumped into the moat that separated the tigers from visitors and waded towards the creatures. He was attacked and killed in full view of shocked onlookers. 

A state coroner ruled the case as a suicide in 2009.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.