“Although there was contact between the man and the rhino bull Puri, neither the man nor the animal was injured,” said a spokeswoman for the zoo.
German newspaper Die Oberbadische had reported on an incident on Monday at the zoo, Basel cantonal police confirmed on Friday. It involved a person “in a difficult life situation”, said the spokesperson. He did not want to reveal more for reasons of privacy.
Apparently, the man was no longer in the enclosure when the police arrived. The zoo spokesperson went on to say that the zookeeper who had been called had been able to persuade the man to come to him in the safe area. The zoo and the police gave no details of the man’s motive.
In 1990 a visitor’s excursion into the rhino enclosure ended fatally. A 29-year-old woman had climbed into the rhino enclosure to stroke a young animal. A mother rhino felt threatened and attacked the woman.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Swiss Abroad
Ups and downs: Swiss drivers benefit from world’s only mobile bridge
Swiss study: Humans can train their brain to communicate with machines
This content was published on
Humans can learn to share their thoughts with machines according to a new study by researchers at the University of Geneva.
Geneva politician arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking
This content was published on
A local Geneva politician was arrested on Wednesday as part of a major police operation to dismantle an organised drug trafficking ring.
Trade conflict: How Swiss companies are preparing for Trump tariffs
This content was published on
Switzerland has so far been spared tariff threats from the new US President Donald Trump. Nevertheless, Swiss companies are taking precautions.
Economists lower Switzerland’s growth forecast for 2025
This content was published on
Economic experts believe that Switzerland's growth will only be marginally weaker than recently. But GDP is expected to accelerate in 2026.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.