If you’re still upset about Harambe, the 17-year old gorilla that was shot and killed after a 3-year-old climbed into his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo, you’ll be glad to know that not everyone blames the animals when humans act foolishly around them.

In March of 2019, a woman mauled by a jaguar at the Wildlife World Zoo in Arizona ended up apologizing to the establishment for the bad press it had received after she pulled a particularly bone-headed and decidedly 21st-century stunt.

To get the perfect selfie, the unnamed woman in her 30s hopped a barrier at the zoo and approached a female jaguar.

If you’re shaking your head in disbelief, you’re not alone. Even she wonders what she was thinking at the time.

As expected, the jaguar whose space she invaded attacked her. The animal lept upon the woman and sunk its claws into her arm, to the horror of everyone watching.

Her screams alerted anyone who wasn’t already watching as the animal backed her up against a fence in the enclosure.

A man named Adam Wilkerson was at the zoo that day rushed over when he heard the cries for help.

“Without thinking, I had no idea what I was going to see, I just ran over there. I saw the other girl up against the fence with her arm caught in the jaguar’s claws.”

While Wilkerson was standing behind the woman, he didn’t want to reach in and pull her out because the animal’s talons were still lodged in her skin and he didn’t want to make the situation worse.

Luckily, his mother had an idea. She approached the enclosure and stuck a water bottle through the cage to distract the animal, who let go just long enough to get the woman to safety.

“When my mom put the water bottle through the gate, the jaguar let go of the girl. And we pulled the girl back and she collapsed,” he said.

In the 911 call obtained by CNN, a zoo employee told the dispatcher that the woman was in “pretty bad shape.”

“She’s doing OK … but her arm is like bad…She’s in pain, like really bad pain.”

Her injuries were not life-threatening and instead of blaming the zoo or the animal, the woman took full responsibility for her actions. She even returned to the facility to apologize.

Zoo spokeswoman Kristy Morcum told CNN affiliates KTVK and KPHO that she admitted fault and “feels horrible about the bad publicity the zoo is getting regarding the incident.”

A very smart move on her part despite some previously unwise actions. It’s nice to see people take responsibility for what they’ve done wrong.

Of course, when news of an attack got out, people were wondering if the animal was a danger to visitors. The zoo released a statement in a Tweet to let people know roughly what happened:

“The visitor sustained non-life threatening injuries to their arm from one of our female jaguars. At the request of the family, paramedics were called. At no time was the animal out of its enclosure … please understand why barriers are put in place. Sending prayers to the family tonight.”

Then, the question became: what would happen to the animal as a result?

After the Harambe incident, people were afraid that the jaguar would be put down despite simply acting according to its instincts – and they were pretty unforgiving of the woman’s actions.

The zoo released another Tweet assuring everyone that the jaguar would be just fine.

“We can promise you nothing will happen to our jaguar,” they said. “She’s a wild animal and there were proper barriers in place to keep our guests safe — not a wild animal’s fault when barriers are crossed. Still sending prayers to her and her family.”

You can scroll down below to see edited footage of the incident in the ABC News report.

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Source: Bored Panda, CNN, ABC News via YouTube, @ZooWildlife via Twitter