They say everything on the internet is forever. Years later, I still can't get over that time someone fell into a polar bear enclosure at the Berlin Zoo. I mean take a look at the video below, and tell me that doesn't live rent-free in your mind. Sure, everyone focuses on Harambe all the years later because the ape died. But this is just as wild if not wilder.
I'll occasionally come across it on social media, and try to imagine if I was in the enclosure. It's definitely a moment of sheer panic. As they say, if it's black then fight back, if it's brown then lie down, and if it's white then goodnight. Let's flashback to 2009 if you don't remember the incident. Right before Easter at the Berlin Zoo, a woman ended up falling into an enclosure at the zoo. It contained four polar bears, and what's worse is that it was feeding time.
Did I say the woman fell in? My mistake. She actually jumped. The woman had scaled a perimeter wall then jumped straight into the water below. From there, she headed straight for the polar bears, which were on an island. I'm not quite sure what she was thinking. But one of the bears ended up attacking the woman and biting her by the back of the neck.
Polar Bear Almost Eats Woman
She quickly realized the error of her ways and tried to escape the polar bear. The only problem? The walls around the enclosure were steep so the bears couldn't climb out. That means she couldn't climb out either. Zoo keepers came to her aid by throwing meat to try to distract the polar bears. The woman kept slipping back into the water as the bears circled around her.
One of the bears grabs her by the back and tries to drag her away. Eventually, a zookeeper manages to rescue her with a life ring. The woman ended up with wounds all over her body from the attack. Zoo biologist Heiner Klos said it almost turned out "even more terrible." He added: "Our alarm system worked. Otherwise, things would have turned out badly for the bear."
A police spokesperson in 2009 told Der Spiegel: "The woman jumped in there carelessly and must logically expect that adult polar bears do such things."
Years later, it's still one of the wildest things I've ever seen. What was she thinking?
