An exotic animal admirer who paid $150 to ‘play’ with a black leopard and rub its belly was shocked after the caged animal immediately scalped him.

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Dwight Turner was brutally mauled by the rare creature after signing up for sanctuary owner Michael Poggi’s ‘full contact experience,’ which gives visitors the chance to play with the leopard and take pictures.

As soon as Turner entered the leopard’s enclosure at Poggi’s home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the animal attacked and left part of his scalp hanging off his skull, as well as tearing his right ear in half.

Turner ended up spending a week in hospital being treated for his injuries, and Poggi was charged with allowing full contact with a dangerous animal. Poggi was also charged with maintaining wildlife in unsafe conditions, reports the Metro.

Poggi was licensed to own the leopard, but breached the terms of his license by charging visitors to ‘play’ with the animal. Since he wasn’t allowed to be offering the experience in the first place, the waiver that the victim signed is now void, meaning he’s free to sue Poggie, which you can bet he’s doing.

Here’s the enclosure Poggi kept leopard in:

So, how’s that for a ‘full contact experience’? I’d say Mr Turner definitely got his money’s worth, except a wild animal’s concept of a full contact experience is vastly different from the way humans understand it, which goes to show how stupid this guy is. I mean surely it must have occurred to him even a little bit that there was a possibility of this happening? You’re stepping into a cage with a wild predator ffs. Oh you think it’s gonna be OK because Florida Man is watching over things? He’s lucky he survived!

Hopefully the leopard will be taken from this Poggi guy and housed with an organisation that is trained in handling and caring animals like this. Where’s Carole Baskin when you need her eh?

For footage of a leopard going the rampage in a village in India and scalping a man on camera, click HERE. Warning = extremely graphic.