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Man killed by walrus he took a selfie with, report says

Walrus reportedly drags selfie-taker into a pool. He drowns, and so does the zookeeper who tried to save him, Chinese media says.

Chris Matyszczyk
2 min read

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A shot from one of the videos posted by the man who died.

Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET

The trouble with there being so many selfies in the world is that people now want them to be ever more daring.

In China, such an escapade has reportedly led to the death of both a selfie-taker and a man who tried to save him.

As the Shanghaiist reports, a man went to the Yeshanko Wildlife Zoo in Liaoning province and thought he'd take a selfie with a walrus. He also reportedly took video and posted the best of his work to WeChat during his visit.

It's unclear why visitors to the zoo have such easy access to creatures that can weigh a ton or more.

In this case, after some selfies were taken, the walrus reportedly grabbed hold of the man from the back and slung him into a pool.

The man drowned. A zookeeper, who had worked with the walrus for 10 years, dived in to try to save the man, but he drowned too, according to the report.

Some believe the walrus may have just wanted to play, reports the Shanghaiist. But animal behavior, of course, can be unpredictable.

The Shanghaiist says that the zoo has taken responsibility for the death and has paid the man's family 900,000 yuan (around $137,000) in compensation.

Attempts to contact the zoo for confirmation and to find out about how the zookeeper's family may have been compensated were unsuccessful.

No matter how many times people are warned about not getting too close to large animals that aren't so used to being around people, someone ignores those warnings.

People have tried to take selfies with bears -- causing one Colorado park to close. Some have even taken selfies with tigers, in order to make these images their dating site profile pictures.

It's never worth the risk.