Woman climbs into zoo tiger enclosure to pick up hat

A woman was caught on camera as she climbed into a zoo tiger enclosure to retrieve her hat.

Tourists looked on in horror as Toronto zoo's seven-year-old Sumatran tiger Hari leapt at the intruder, who managed to scramble to safety.

It appeared that the woman, in a red t-shirt, was accompanied by a young child at the time.

She escaped without injury after the tiger failed to scale a second inner fence inside the enclosure.

The woman was berated by fellow visitors, one of whom told her: "You jumped in front of it like a moron. You taught these kids you're a moron."

Video footage of the incident was taken by fellow visitor Jared Sales, and has since gone viral on YouTube.

The zoo said that it is investigating the incident, which is understood to have taken place on Saturday afternoon.

Spokesman Jennifer Tracey said it is not unusual for items to fall into enclosure but there is "no need to go after them" instead of calling keepers to help.

She added that Hari the tiger would not have been traumatized bythe incident and was displaying "instinctive behavior".