A man suffered serious injuries Wednesday when he attempted to feed and pet a tiger after hours at the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens.

According to Collier County Sheriff's Office, a member of a third-party cleaning service, a man in his 20s, entered an unauthorized area near the tiger that was inside its enclosure. 

The zoo has one tiger, Eko, a male Malayan tiger. 

According to the sheriff's Facebook post, the cleaning company is responsible for cleaning restrooms and the gift shop, not animal enclosures.

Preliminary information indicates that the man was either petting or feeding the animal, sticking his hand through fencing and the tiger grabbed his arm and pulled it into the enclosure.  

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Deputies arrived about 6:30 p.m. and the first deputy kicked the enclosure and tried to get the tiger to release the man’s arm.

The deputy shot the animal.

The man was seriously injured and transported by Collier County EMS as a trauma alert.

Officials at Lee Health confirms Lee Memorial in Fort Myers is treating a tiger mauling victim.

"I can only confirm that we are treating someone who was attacked by a tiger," said Mary Briggs, system director for strategic communications for Lee Health. "I don’t know where the person was attacked."

The sheriff's Facebook post indicated the tiger's status was unclear about 9:30 p.m..

The 4-year-old tiger had retreated to the back of the enclosure. Deputies flew a drone into the enclosure and the tiger is not responding.

A veterinarian has sedated the animal and will examine it when it is safe to do so, the post said.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers also responded.

Naples Zoo is nationally accredited and includes rare animals in a tropical setting such as lions, giraffes, monkeys, pythons, and bears. 

Eko is a critically endangered species.  There are fewer than 200 in the wild left, according to the zoo's website.

The solitary tiger at the zoo, he came from Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle in early 2020.

According to the zoo's blog, tigers can run in short bursts up to 40 mph and has night vision six times better than that of humans.

Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said the public was never in  danger.

News-Press reporter Michael Braun contributed to this report.