A woman apologizes after her arm was torn by Jaguar at Arizona Zoo: NPR

A woman whose arm was wounded in the arm after jumping over a concrete fence to take a selfie in front of a jaguar enclosure in an Arizona Zoo is excused for breaking the rules, park officials m said Monday.

"The person involved met privately with the zoo officials to express his regret for his role in last weekend's events … Wildlife World staff and administrators appreciate his sincere apologies and we look forward to welcome back, "Wildlife World Zoo, Aquarium and Safari Park officials wrote on Twitter.

The woman, whose identity was not revealed, also apparently tried to eliminate the animal's blame, claiming that she had not been " attacked. " Instead, she described the incident as a "crazy crash," reported CBS.

For now, the 4 to 5 year old female jaguar was removed from the show while the zoo was investigating, but officials assured the public that the animal would not be killed because He had been provoked.

"We can promise you that our jaguar will not happen – it's a wild animal and there are adequate barriers in place to protect our guests – not a fault of wild animals when barriers are crossed," said a zoo official. tweet Sunday morning.

During a visit to the Litchfield Park Zoo, about thirty kilometers to the west of Phoenix, the woman climbed a concrete wall to take a picture against the steel fence surrounding the exhibition. jaguar. It is unclear whether she has put her hand in the cage, but witnesses said that the creature's claws passed through the metal fence and were tight around the woman's arm, making her scream in pain.

Several people rushed to help but it was a mother and her son – Michele Flores and Adam Wilkerson – who took her to safety.

"I hear this young [woman] shouting "Help, help, help" and, without thinking, I rush over there, "Wilkerson told Fox 10.

"I see another girl with her against the jaguar's cage and the jaguar grabbed his claws outside the cage around his hand and in his flesh," Wilkerson told the television channel.

He explained that Flores, his mother, had managed to distract the fat cat with a bottle of plastic water that she had thrust into the closed area.

Seeing the foreign object, the jaguar loosened his grip on the woman's arm, catching only his orange sweatshirt.

"At that moment, I grabbed the girl by the chest and pulled her out of the cage and she cleared her claw," recalls Wilkerson. "The jaguar is just after the bottle."

A video shot after the incident shows the woman on the ground, writhing in pain, shouting, "It hurts, it hurts." A notch about three inches long can be seen on his left forearm.

"There is no way to fix the obstacles that go through people," Zoo Director Mickey Ollson told KTVK. "It happens from time to time, and we put important barriers there and if people cross them, they can get into trouble."

Zoo officials said the woman had several stitches in a nearby hospital but had not spent the night.

She returned to the zoo on Sunday to express her regret for her actions, saying that she loved the zoo and that she "feels horrible about the bad publicity that the zoo makes of the incident".