Some deaths are worse than others and being mauled by an animal on camera certainly ranks as an unpleasant one and this was the case in recent weeks when a grandad encountered a crocodile
It is six weeks since an 80-year-old grandad took his final ever breath – but his death was far from peaceful with his horrifying last moments caught on camera.
Pensioner Wasim, 80, was bathing in a river near home in Tanggamus Regency in Lampung Province, Sumatra, Indonesia, on June 30, when a 10ft reptile pounced.
The croc dragged him under water and alarm bells rang when his clothes were discovered on the river bank. Concerned locals started looking for the pensioner before witnessing the crocodile with its jaws locked around the frightened man whose body was being paraded around the river.
After being hit with sticks, the creature eventually let go, but a local police chief sadly confirmed: “The victim was found within an hour or at 13.00 Western Indonesia Time (WIB), after the crocodile emerged carrying him in its mouth. After being struck several times, the crocodile finally released the victim’s body. But when recovered, he was already in a lifeless state.”
The victim’s son-in-law, Samugi, added: “It was just a normal day for us. We didn’t expect it to end tragically like this.” With this recent tragedy in mind, below we look at other animal attacks recorded on camera that had similarly devastating conclusions.
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.
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.
Safari slaughter
Two years after the above example, 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.