Baghdad — A U.S. soldier shot and killed an endangered tiger at the Baghdad zoo after it bit another soldier who had drunkenly reached through the bars of its cage to feed it, a security guard said Saturday.

The soldiers had been drinking beer when they entered the zoo Thursday night after it closed, said the guard, Zuhair Abdul-Majeed. After the man was bit, the other American shot the tiger three times in the head and killed it, he said.

The head of the zoo confirmed the story in an interview with Agence France-Presse.

"The soldiers arrived in the evening with food and beer, accompanied by a group of Iraqi police officers," Adel Salman Musa said. "One of the soldiers, who the Iraqi police said had drunk a lot, went into the cage against the advice of his colleagues and tried to feed the animal, who severely hurt his arm."

The tiger tore off one of the soldier's fingers and mauled his arm. Another soldier immediately fired at the animal and killed it, Mr. Salman Musa told AFP.

"The soldiers don't have the right to behave like that. That was the most precious and valuable animal in the whole zoo. It was 14 years old and had been born here," he said, adding sadly that he has no way of stopping the regular parties held at the zoo by occupation forces.

It was impossible to reach the U.S. military spokesman's office because the telephones have not worked for three days, Associated Press said.

The zoo reopened July 20, three months after Baghdad was captured by the Americans.

It had 1.5 million visitors in 2001 but hit hard times more recently. When zoo workers returned after U.S. forces occupied Baghdad, some animals lay dead in their cages. Others had escaped when mortar rounds blasted open the bars and yet others had been looted. Some wild animals roamed the park freely, including a bear that mauled and partially ate three civilians, and three lions that were shot to death when they tried to pounce on a contingent of invading American soldiers.

Since then, the surviving animals have been nursed back to health, and more animals have been brought in from a small private zoo across town and from the private zoos found in the palaces of Saddam Hussein's family.