Police say a woman jumped into a polar bear enclosure at Berlin Zoo and was bitten several times on her arms and legs.
The woman was bitten Friday by one of the four older polar bears in the enclosure and not by the famous Knut, who took Germany by storm as a cub after he was hand-raised by a keeper.
Heiner Kloes, a zoo spokesman, said keepers pushed the bear away and pulled the woman out from the enclosure, which is surrounded by a fence, a line of prickly hedges and a wall.
The woman was taken to a hospital for treatment. Her condition was not immediately known. Police did not say why she jumped in with the bear.
The Berlin zoo doesn't plan to change security measures following the incident. "It is already safe," zoo spokesman Kloes said Monday.
The woman, who has not been identified, climbed down a fence, over a wide hedge full of thorns and got past a concrete wall before swan diving into the murky moat where the polar bears swim.
One of four bears in the enclosure bit the woman's arms, legs and back before keepers rescued her out with a life preserver.
The woman was taken to a Berlin hospital for treatment and is still recovering, the Bild newspaper reported Monday. The hospital did not return phone calls seeking comment.
It was not clear what made the woman circumvent all those security measures and jump in with four large, fully grown polar bears. Police did not provide any motive for the incident.
Last year, a man who said celebrity polar bear Knut looked "lonely" hurdled over a water-filled ditch into his enclosure at the same zoo. The 37-year-old emerged unscathed after keepers lured Knut away with a leg of beef.
An older bear attacked Friday's leaper.
Despite visitors' repeated attempts to hug the huge, powerful bears, keepers have no plans to change the zoo's setup. The concrete wall protecting the polar bears' enclosure will not be built up higher than its current three feet (90 centimeters), nor will more guards be posted, Kloes said.
"People who want to jump in will always find a way," he added.
