A leopard attacked and fatally injured Uriel Nuri, 26, a senior staff member at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo, on Friday morning.
Paramedics treated the young man who was found unconscious with severe wounds to his neck, according to Magen David Adom. He was evacuated to Hadassah Medical Center in the capital’s Ein Kerem neighborhood, where he was declared dead by doctors.
Nuri was in charge of two Persian leopards acquired by the zoo in in January, sharing their arrival on X and naming them Efren and Aladdin after Efren Ramirez, an American actor and the character Aladdin he voiced in a Disney video game.
In August 2024, a crocodile attacked another zoo employee. The worker, a man in his 40s, suffered serious injuries to his body and face. A security guard opened fire on the crocodile, likely saving the worker’s life.
The Biblical Zoo has long played a vital role in public education and global conservation efforts. In 2023, it celebrated the birth of a South African giraffe named Eli. A year earlier, the zoo partnered with the Athens Zoo to bring a two-year-old Sumatran tigress from Jakarta to Jerusalem.
Also in 2022, visitors to the Biblical Zoo were charmed by its red pandas, Yin and Yang, as they frolicked after a rare snowfall.
