WATCH: Zookeeper's finger ripped off by lion in horrifying video

New Delhi, May 23: A horrifying video of a zookeeper's finger ripped off by a lion after sticking his hand into the cage at a Jamaican zoo has gone viral on social media.

A 25 seconds video shows an attendant at Jamaica Zoo trying to touch the lion in front of the visitors. It looked like he was playing with a cat.

As he tries to touch the lion, the animal snarls but he ignores and continues to play and teases the lion. Minutes later, the lion strikes back, clamping its jaws around the man's finger.

The ill-advised stunt resulted in the keeper's finger being ripped off.

"When it happened, I thought it was a joke. I didn't think it was serious. I didn't realise the seriousness of it, because it's their job to put on a show," An eyewitness told local news outlet Jamaica Observer.

"Obviously, when he fell on the ground everybody realised that it was serious. Everybody started to panic," she added.

Never seen such stupidity before in my life, wrote a twitter user.