Man Arrested At Franklin Park Zoo After Allegedly Trying To Break Into Tiger Enclosure
BOSTON (CBS) – A Worcester man was arrested Monday morning after allegedly breaking into the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston and attempting to gain access to the tiger enclosure. It happened around 9 a.m.
Standing outside his parent's Worcester home with violin in hand, the suspect, Matthew Abraham, said police have it all wrong.
"The gate shouldn't have been open, I walked in," Matthew Abraham said. "I didn't mean to harm anybody, I wasn't looking to harm the tiger, I wasn't looking to harm myself neither."
Abraham was arrested Monday morning at the Franklin Park Zoo after State Police say he broke in, scaled several fences and ignored warning signs trying to get into the tiger enclosure before zoo hours.
But Abraham insists he thought the place was open because the gate was and didn't realize he was in a restricted area until security confronted him, about the same time he locked eyes with the beast.
"When the tiger growled at me, I thought I could be in danger," Abraham said. "However, there was a fence between me and the tiger, so I wasn't actually in the enclave with the tiger."
Abraham says the only time he hopped fences was trying to get out after security scolded him. But he says the one thing police have right is that he's fascinated by tigers, perhaps to a somewhat strange degree.
In fact, he admits he went to the zoo with the goal of staring into the tiger's soul and achieving some mystical experience. "I was just walking around trying to see if I made eye contact with this tiger, what's going to happen to me," Abraham said.
The Worcester State biology major is charged with trespassing and disturbing the peace, charges he hopes will be tossed out.
"Hopefully it will be forgiven as a misunderstanding because that's what I believe it was," Abraham said.
He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday morning in Dorchester District Court.
