"Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty," Says Man Who Pet Zoo Cougars

An Ohio man expressed little remorse after filming himself jumping a zoo barrier and petting two cougars. 

"Come here kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty," Josh Newel, 35, said to the big cats before jumping the Columbus zoo barrier and putting his hand through the animals' cage to pet them, video uploaded to YouTube last week shows.

On Wednesday, Newell pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespassing and was fined $200, according to the Associated Press. 

"The cat's gonna go out of his way to get some lovin', I'm gonna go ahead and jump the barrier to show him some love," Newell explained to 10TV. "They were purring, they were so loving," he added. "I dunno, cougars love me."

Though he admitted to the station that he "was an idiot," he also placed blame on the zoo for not having stronger security measures.

"They want to call me an idiot for jumping into the cougar exhibit, but my thing is how easy it was to do," he said. "It was so easy."

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