This was the scene that unfolded during a children’s field trip to the Pensacola Interstate Fair this week, when a two-year-old Bengal tiger named Gandhi turned on his trainer Vicenta Pages. In the above video, recorded on a tablet belonging to one of the young students, you can see Gandhi grab Pages’ leg, who then falls down. She tries to beat the big cat off of her, as her husband rushes into the cage and hits at him with a stick. The tiger drags Pages several feet before they’re finally able to get him off of her, and she was able to stand after the attack.
A publicist for the fair, Katie King, later told the Pensacola News Journal that Pages had been “playing” with Gandhi moments earlier, and that the tiger probably just simply didn’t realize that she wasn’t playing anymore. (If the poor creature getting beaten with a stick didn’t drive the point home.)
“She tripped and landed on her butt,” King said. “He grabbed her legs with his claws. She inched forward so he wouldn’t do too much damage, because she didn’t want to pull away and make it worse. She followed protocol.”
“She explained that accidents happen, then her husband came on and answered questions for the kids,” King said.
Pages was taken to the hospital suffering minor injuries from Gandhi’s claws. The tiger show at the fair, which was supposed to run through October 30, has been indefinitely canceled.
