A keeper who tried to pet a wildlife park tiger at feeding time was savagely injured when the big cat chewed both his arms.

Gruesome footage of the aftermath of the attack was released by police showing the bloodstained keeper lying on the ground in visible agony while they wait for paramedics to arrive and take him away to hospital.

The mauling took place at Wooten’s Everglades Airboat Tours in Collier County, in the south-eastern US state of Florida, on the afternoon of 22nd March.

The victim has been named as Ignacio Meabe Martinez, 48, whose colleagues call him “Nacho” in the footage.

The images show the victim lying on his back on the ground. He can be seen groaning in pain and asking for water, while another man, apparently a colleague, unnamed, replies that he cannot give him any water and that they have to wait for the emergency services to arrive.

Newsflash obtained the footage from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) on 25th March. The CCSO said: “We are releasing body-camera video from deputies who responded to a report of an encounter between a man and a tiger in an enclosure at Wooten’s Everglades Airboat Tours on Tuesday afternoon.”

The Sheriff’s Office added: “Ignacio Meabe Martinez, 48, was transported to an area hospital for treatment by Collier County EMS. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is investigating.”

According to the CCSO, Martinez was with a colleague at feeding time when he placed his arms through the bars to pet one of the tigers.

The workmate told him to stop but the “tiger grabbed both of the subject’s arms with his mouth and briefly held him before letting go”.

When officers from the CCSO arrived on the scene, they found the victim lying on his back with open wounds to his arms.

The victim was airlifted to the Gulf Coast Medical Center in Fort Myers, in Lee County, also in Florida, for medical treatment.

There have been no further updates on the victim’s current condition and what will happen to the tiger in question.

In December last year, an officer from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office had to shoot and kill a Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) named Eko at Naples Zoo, in Southwest Florida, after it attacked worker River Rosenquist when he approached its enclosure.