Tennessee Man Pets Tiger, Gets Cited

There's generally not a lot of rules about what to do and not do when visiting the Denver Zoo. One of those rules is to not pet the animals. Apparently, the word about that never got to Matthew Swearingen, who visited the zoo last month.

Have Patch email you newsletters and breaking news alerts.

Denver Police Officers were called to the zoo after a disturbance was reported. When they got there they found 34-year-old Swearingen. He had climbed into the recently opened The Edge tiger exhibit and petted the tiger.

He was given a ticket for criminal trespassing.

Swearingen, who told officers he's from New York and lives in Washington, D.C., — he produced a Tennessee identification — is on a cross country trip, according to his Facebook page. He wrote about his visit with the tiger there.

The zoo is evaluating procedures.

Tiger photo via Denver Zoo