A man and a young girl attempted to provoke white lions Johnny and Naomi at Tashkent Zoo, as captured by surveillance cameras. The zoo administration initially released the footage but later removed it.

The video shows the man taking water from a container into his mouth and spraying it toward the enclosure, followed by the girl doing the same. A fellow visitor reprimanded them, prompting an aggressive response from the man.

The zoo stated: “Our animals, like all living beings, experience fear, stress, and discomfort. Kindness, responsibility, and respect for nature should first be taught by adults setting an example for children.”

The administration expressed hope that respectful treatment of animals would become the norm for all visitors, noting that the majority behave appropriately.

The man later contacted the zoo and admitted his wrongdoing, acknowledging that “such behavior is completely unacceptable and may have caused stress to the animals.”

This is not the first incident: in December 2025, some visitors threw snowballs with stones at white Bengal and Amur tigers, and in March 2024, an emu required emergency surgery due to food thrown by visitors.

Source: www.gazeta.uz