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Oct. 16, 2013 / 8:30 AM

Man who jumped into Bronx Zoo tiger den gets 1 year in mental facility

A Siberian tiger is seen at the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo in New York on October 23, 2009. UPI/Julie Larsen Maher/Wildlife Conservation Society

A Siberian tiger is seen at the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo in New York on October 23, 2009. UPI/Julie Larsen Maher/Wildlife Conservation Society | License Photo

NEW YORK, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- David Villalobos, the man who was mauled after jumping into a Bronx Zoo tiger den, has been sentenced to a year in a mental facility, court officials said.

Villalobos, 26, pleaded guilty to trespassing and will stay in a mental health facility as part of his conditional discharge, the New York Daily News said.

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Villalobos leaped from a passing monorail in September 2012 and climbed a fence to reach the den.

He was able to pet the 11-year-old tiger, Bachuta, before being attacked.

Zoo employees used a fire extinguisher to drive the animal away, but Villalobos suffered a broken right shoulder, right ankle, rib and pelvis, and a punctured lung.

When police asked him about his motive at the time of the incident, Villalobos said that he wanted to be one with the tiger, the Daily News reported.

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