An amateur cameraman has captured the strange moment Joao Leite Dos Santos, a drunk zoo visitor jumped into a monkey enclosure to “play with them”, and ended up with severe bite marks after the animals attacked.

Joao Leite Dos Santos, a mechanic in Sao Paulo, Brazil, admitted that he had been drinking alcohol when he went to the Sorocaba Zoo on Sunday.

Thinking that it would be fun to join the zoo’s colony of spider monkeys, Joao Leite Dos Santos climbed over a fence and swam across a dividing pool to get closer to the animals, as amused tourists looked on.

Many kept their cameras trained on Joao Leite Dos Santosand laughed as his presence in the water startled the monkeys.

An amateur cameraman has captured the strange moment Joao Leite Dos Santos, a drunk zoo visitor jumped into a monkey enclosure to "play with them", and ended up with severe bite marks after the animals attacked

A group of the long-limbed primates gathered at the water’s edge, and one in particular kept reaching out for Joao Leite Dos Santos in a bid to grab a hold of him.

Joao Leite Dos Santos moved close enough for them to grab hold of his arm.

Almost immediately, one of the spider monkeys sank its sharp teach into his wrist, while another bit his elbow and shoulder.

The monkeys are fiercely territorial and had been sizing Joao Leite Dos Santos up from the moment he climbed over the fence.

Realizing the monkeys were not in a playful mood, and now in excruciating pain, Joao Leite Dos Santos waded back towards the horrified onlookers and was dragged out of the water and over the enclosure fence.

Joao Leite Dos Santos lay on the ground for several minutes, in a growing pool of his own blood, while zoo workers tried to work out what to do.

Joao Leite Dos Santos was eventually taken to hospital, where he was treated for severe bites to his right arm and shoulder, and gave sheepish interviews to the local media. It is not known whether he will face criminal charges for his prank.

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