A tiger has mauled a circus performer in front of a screaming crowd in Egypt, forcing a doctor to amputate his arm.
Footage taken on Tuesday in Tanta, which lies 60 miles north of Cairo, showed one of several tigers trapped in a large cages enclosure violently chomping down on a performer’s arm that was stuck through the metal bars.
The tiger can be seen thrashing around with the man’s arm in its mouth as the crowd lets out bloodcurdling screams.
Several other circus workers were seen beating the tiger with stick in an attempt to get it off the man, but the efforts largely went unnoticed by the aggressive animal.
A second tiger was seen taking an interest in the man’s arm, before backing off.
In another angle of the terrifying attack showed the man frantically trying to break away from the big cat’s jaws to no avail.
Eventually the tiger relented, and the man was able to get his limp arm away from the cage.
He was rushed to the nearby Tanta University Emergency Hospital, and reportedly underwent a four-hour surgery during which surgeons tried desperately to save his arm.
But the severity of his injuries was too great, and doctors made the decision to amputate his arm.
As it is, the tiger was not put down, instead reportedly being removed from performances and sent back to Cairo for retraining.
