Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Bronx zoo director Jim Breheny: "The fact that we used the fire extinguisher to distract him (the tiger) really saved this guy's life"

A 25-year-old man has been mauled by a tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York City after he jumped from an elevated train into a tiger enclosure.

The man has been taken to hospital in critical condition, but did not lose his leg as was earlier reported.

Zoo staff used a fire extinguisher to chase the tiger off and the man was told to roll under the electrified wire to safety.

The man was conscious and talking, zoo director Jim Breheny said.

"If not for the quick response by our staff and their ability to perform well in emergency situations, the outcome would have been very different," he said in a statement.

It was unclear why the man jumped from the Wild Asia monorail, a train with open sides that takes visitors over the Bronx River and along the top of a fence past elephants, deer and tigers.

The man jumped 20 ft (6m) and cleared the two fences between spectators and the tiger enclosure.

A fire department spokesman said the man had deep cuts to his back.