A tourist was killed by three tigers in front of his horrified wife and child after jumping into the enclosure.
It is reported that the man, named locally as Mr Zhang, accessed the area to avoid paying the zoo’s £15 entrance fee.
He is said to have scaled three fences after his wife and child went in because he could not afford another entrance fee of 130 yuan (£15).
A pal of the man joined him for part of his fence-scaling, but gave up half way through and turned back, leaving Zhang to clamber over the two three metre-high walls and a barbed wire fence himself.
He then landed in the tiger enclosure yesterday afternoon where a trio of roaring beasts jumped on him and began ripping him apart – as his horrified family watched on.
A relative of Zhang, who was mauled to death, has blamed the zoo for not implementing “effective measures” to avoid the tragedy.
One of the three tigers that attacked the man was shot dead – causing further outrage among animal lovers in China.
The tigers are seen in footage leaping on Zhang at Ningbo Younger Zoo, on China’s east coast, leaving him writhing around on the ground in agony as they passed him between their massive paws.
He died from his injuries.
Zookeepers tried to frighten the animals away with firecrackers and water cannons, but they were undeterred.
The animals bit into his head and neck and ripped off his clothes, leaving him face down on the ground in just his pants, according to ntdtv.com
One tiger was then seen dragging the man’s blood-soaked body into the woods by his foot.
The man was rushed to hospital from the zoo in East China’s Zhejiang Province but pronounced dead.
Staff were said to have been feeding the animals when Zhang entered the enclosure.
One witness told the South China Morning Post: “I saw the tiger mauling the person, whose face was covered with blood. Every time he sat up, the tiger pushed him down again.”
Shocked bystanders told The Beijing News that the man was with his wife and child.
A relative of Mr Zhang’s said: “It’s the zoo’s fault. The zoo offers the chance [to climb the wall].
“If the wall was high enough, or if the zoo had adopted effective measures, he wouldn’t have been able to climb it.”