Mother Drops Three-Year-Old Daughter Into Bear Enclosure at Uzbekistan Zoo in Shocking CCTV Footage

While the three-year-old girl was saved in the nick of time by zookeepers, she suffered a concussion, cuts to her head, and bruising due to the fall. Her mother was later detained and faces a criminal investigation.

A shocking video of a mother dropping her three-year-old daughter into a bear enclosure at a zoo in Uzbekistan's capital city Tashkent has emerged online.

In the CCTV footage of the incident, the mother can be seen holding her daughter in her arms over the railings. Suddenly, she drops the child into a trench under the fence, horrifying onlookers who could only watch helplessly from the other side.

The brown bear kept in the enclosure ran towards the girl and started sniffing her before retreating.

Within a few minutes, the zookeepers came to the child's rescue and managed to take her out, the video shows.

Shocked by the incident, the zoo spokesperson later said that the little girl had been diagnosed with a concussion, caused by her falling from a height of five meters, as well as an open wound on her head.

It is still unclear as to why the young woman threw the little girl into the bear's enclosure.

"It was completely unclear what her motive was. Both the visitors and the staff of the zoo were trying to stop her but failed," the zoo spokesperson said.

A criminal case has been initiated against the woman under the article "attempted murder", which provides for a minimum of 15 years in prison.