Video emerges of Thai leopard dashing out of pen to maul Israeli toddler

Footage emerged Monday of a leopard attack last week on an Israeli toddler in Thailand.

The 2-year-old boy, Orr Burns, was mauled on Thursday on the island of Ko Samui during a visit with his family to an animal park. He sustained serious injuries to his face.

CCTV video that surfaced Monday was filmed from inside the leopard’s enclosure and first published by British media. In the video, a man, apparently the boy’s grandfather, leaves the gate open to take photos of the animal. The leopard then charges out of its pen, alarming passersby.

Eight seconds later, the leopard is corralled back into the enclosure and the door is shut.

Witnesses said handlers kicked the leopard in the head to pull it off the boy, who is from the central Israeli city of Rishon Letzion. He was rushed to a local hospital, where his head was bandaged by doctors, a CT scan was taken of the wounded area, and he was rushed into surgery. Doctors said his condition was stable.

He was flown back to Israel on Sunday and was receiving additional treatment at Sheba hospital near Tel Aviv.

The Thai zoo said it had covered all the costs of the medical treatment Burns received in the country.

Burns’s father, Rafi, charged that the leopard should have been groggy for tourists to take photos with it, and that there should have been a staff member at the entrance to the cage.