Zoo shoots at polar bear to save man who climbed into enclosure

Zookeepers at Copenhagen Zoo were forced to shoot at a polar bear yesterday, after a man jumped into the animal's enclosure.

The young man, who was described by police as mentally unstable, climbed over the fence and the security pit and walked straight up to the 98-stone animal, The Copenhagen Post reports.

"He went up to the bear and it examined him by sniffing him and shoving him, and he sustained some superficial injuries," said zoo spokesman Jacob Munkholm.

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"It didn't take more than a minute and a half from the alarm going off when he entered the facility until our guards... shot rubber bullets at the bear and it moved away from him," he added.

A group of schoolchildren who witnessed the incident have been offered counselling. It is unclear if the 10-year-old bear suffered any injuries.

In 2012, a man was mauled to death at the same zoo after he climbed into the tiger pit. "If a person really wants to get in, we cannot prevent it from happening," zoo manager Steffen Straede told Sky News at the time.

Copenhagen zoo also made international headlines last year after staff shot a perfectly healthy giraffe in the head and then dissected it in front of young children. A month later, the zoo euthanised a pride of lions.