Woman bitten by Omaha zoo tiger pleads guilty to trespassing
OMAHA, Neb. --A woman who was bitten by a tiger after she sneaked into a zoo in Nebraska has pleaded guilty to trespassing.
Jacqueline Eide pleaded guilty Monday in Omaha and was fined $250 plus court costs. Prosecutors dropped two other misdemeanor charges in return for her plea.
The 33-year-old Eide was accused of sneaking into Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo following a social function there on Halloween last year. Authorities say Eide was bitten by a Malayan tiger named Mai when she reached into the tiger's exhibit. Police say Eide acted aggressively and appeared to be intoxicated.
Authorities said she tried to pet the tiger, but her attorney told CBS affiliate KMTV her hands were on the bars when the animal was spooked by a lion in a neighboring enclosure.
She was treated for the hand wound at an Omaha hospital.
Her attorney, James Martin Davis, told KMTV in December that the bite didn't sever her fingers, and that only a few small parts of her fingers were bitten. She did require surgery.
"She's certainly sorry for what she's done she didn't realize that it was going to cause such consternation," Davis told the station."But I've told her you never get involved with an animal that has big jaws, big claws, and big paws."