A jaguar clawed an Arizona woman after she climbed into its enclosure at the Wildlife World Zoo in order to take a selfie.

Mobile phone video of the incident showed at least one gash on the woman's left forearm as she writhed on the ground in pain on Saturday.

"I hear this young girl screaming: 'Help, help, help' ... and the jaguar has clasped its claws outside the cage around her hand and into her flesh," witness Adam Wilkerson told Fox 10 television.

The zoo has said that the animal will not be put down.

Mr Wilkerson's mother distracted the jaguar by pushing a water bottle through the cage, and Mr Wilkerson said he pulled the woman away. Cellphone video later showed the animal chewing on a plastic water bottle.

The identity of the woman, in her 30s, was being withheld, said Shawn Gilleland, a spokesman for Rural Metro Fire, the agency that responded to the incident.

She was taken to a hospital and treated, then later returned to the zoo to apologize, Gilleland said.

"She wanted to take a selfie or a picture of the animal, and she put her arm close enough to the cage that the cat was able to reach her," Gilleland said.