Mauled man charged with criminal trespassing

  NEW YORK -- David Villalobos is still in the hospital, but has been charged with criminal trespassing on Saturday night.

Police said Saturday that authorities delivered a desk appearance ticket to David Villalobos in the hospital where he's recuperating.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says Villalobos wasn't drunk at the time, and says there is no indication that he suffers from any mental illness.

"This was a foolish thing to do. Those animals deserve to be left alone," Commissioner Kelly added.

Commissioner Kelly also says that he hopes the incident will not affect the zoo's monorail exhibit, which gives people a unique, closed and safe encounter with rare, endangered animals.

"This is New York. We have 8.4 million people here and strange things can sometimes happen," he adds.

Before his now-infamous tangle with a Bronx Zoo tiger, Villalobos adorned his Facebook page with New Age odes to Mother Earth and affirmations like, "Be love and fearless."

Police said Saturday that Villalobos had told detectives that it was without fear that he leaped from an elevated train into the animal's den. His reason, they said, was that "he wanted to be one with the tiger."

Villalobos also recounted how, after he landed on all fours, the 400-pound beast attacked him and dragged around by his foot, said New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne. Despite serious injuries, he claimed he was able to get his wish and pet the tiger - a male Siberian named Bashuta - before his rescue, the spokesman added.

Based on those admissions and a complaint from the zoo, police were planning to arrest the hospitalized Villalobos on trespassing charges, Browne said. It was unclear when that would happen or if the 25-year-old real estate agent had an attorney; attempts to reach relatives on Saturday were unsuccessful.

Villalobos' big-cat exploits Friday afternoon were an instant tabloid sensation: A front page New York Post story on Saturday was headlined "MAULED!" The Daily News countered with "ZOO-ICIDE," speculating a death wish.

Police had said earlier that Villalobos admitted to a police officer at the scene that he made a conscious decision to jump - "Everyone has a reason for what they do in life," he was quoted as saying - but that his motives were murky and an arrest uncertain.

That changed when, during a follow-up interview Saturday, Villalobos told detectives that "his leap was definitely not a suicide attempt, but a desire to be one with the tiger," Browne said.

Villalobos remained hospitalized with bites and punctures on his arms, legs, shoulders and back, and a broken arm and a leg caused by the jump.

The Wild Asia exhibit that's home to the tiger was operating as usual on Saturday, zoo officials said, declining to comment further.

Villalobos' Facebook page makes clear his infatuation with wildlife. One of several postings from Thursday was a photo of a tiger licking a cub, and the comment, "Nice." Another was of a black jaguar.

An earlier post displayed a promo for a movie called "Facing Animals," a Dutch documentary about "the complex and often bizarre relationship between man and animal."

His comment: "This looks fascinating."

Villalobos' own bizarre encounter began with a ride on the elevated train that takes unrestrained visitors over the Bronx River and through a forest, where they glide along the top edge of a fence past elephants, deer and a tiger enclosure. He and a date had taken in the same sights from the monorail during a visit to the zoo about two weeks ago, police said Saturday.

This time without warning, Villalobos apparently jumped out of his train car and cleared the 16-foot-high perimeter fence. He was alone with Bashuta for about 10 minutes before he was rescued by zoo officials, who used a fire extinguisher to chase the animal away.

The zookeepers instructed to roll under an electrified wire to get to safety, Breheny said. They then called the tiger into a holding area.

The Bronx Zoo, one of the nation's largest zoos, sprawls over 265 acres and contains hundreds of animals, many in habitats meant to resemble natural settings. Its exhibits include Tiger Mountain, Congo Gorilla Forest and World of Reptiles.

There are 10 tigers at the Wild Asia exhibit, but the 11-year-old Bashuta was the only one on display at the time. Zoo officials said he would remain in the rotation.

"When someone is determined to do something harmful to themselves, it's very hard to stop that," said zoo director Jim Breheny. "The tiger did nothing wrong."

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Brooklyn boy mauled to death by family dog

Web produced by Dan Hosea, Eyewitness NewsBROOKLYN (WABC) -- A tragedy in Brooklyn: a little boy is mauled to death by the family dog in a gruesome and bloody scene.

Investigators still don't know what caused the dog to attack.

But now the Administration for Children's Services has removed the victim's siblings from the home.

The vicious attack happened Friday night in the family's apartment on Pacific Street in the Ocean Hill section of Brooklyn.

Many people who live in the neighborhood say they were always concerned about the dog involved in the attack.

Some are even saying it was a ticking time bomb that was just waiting to explode.

Four-year-old Jayelin Graham's lifeless body was rushed to Brookdale Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

He was bitten on the head, neck and torso by the Cane Corso mastiff in his mother's apartment.

The little boy's aunt, Calandra Jubeark said, "Within a split second it happened."

That quick her nephew Jayelin was viciously attacked and mauled to death.

The boy's mother telling her sister, "She said, 'The dog wouldn't let go.' It's painful," Jubeark said.

The gruesome aftermath of the attack was evident in the bloodstained hallway where tensions ran high after the mother came out screaming for help.

Several residents helped to subdue the dog which was in the apartment with other children.

Police tranquilized the dog after the attack.

The mother was emotionally distraught over the horrible death of her four-year-old child.

Her grandfather led her back into the apartment where the attack occurred.

"What a horrible way to die. I've got a lot of frustrations, a lot of emotions, a lot of anger." the grandfather said.

Residents and Jayelin's paternal aunt, D'Neisha Graham, say the boy was living in filthy conditions with dog feces and urine in the apartment.

"If you walk in there it is disgusting. It was very nasty. Nobody, anybody, let alone a child, could stay in that house," Graham said.

(Copyright ©2011 WABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more New York News »

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