Tiger mauls zookeeper to death - ABC Online

Posted August 26, 2012 12:37:46

A Siberian tiger has attacked and killed a female keeper at a zoo in Germany.

It seems an unlocked gate at Cologne Zoo allowed the tiger, Altai, to get out of its pen and into a store, where it attacked the zookeeper.

The zoo's director then shot the animal through a skylight in the store, before it could go further and get into public areas.

"We cannot yet explain how the keeper could make such a fatal mistake (of failing to close the gate)," zoo director Theo Pagel said.

"I shot and killed the animal so that we could enter... and take a look. But the employee was already dead."

Police briefly cleared the area as a precautionary measure though officials said the public was never in any danger.

Both the tiger and the zookeeper were killed.

The zoo, which later reopened for visitors, said in a statement the keeper had been experienced in working with tigers. She died of her wounds in the cage, not after being taken to hospital as earlier reported.

It is not the first time this year that an animal has escaped from a zoo in Germany.

In July, five chimpanzees got over a fence in Hanover.

In that case though, they were recaptured before anyone was hurt

An animal rights group said the death of the keeper should force the government to reconsider how zoos operate.

"Tragedies like this can only be prevented in the future if people stop considering as recreational fun the locking up of wild animals that have a desire for freedom," said Peter Hoeffken, a zoologist from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

Cologne Zoo in western Germany, founded in 1860, is one of the oldest and best-known in the country.

BBC/Reuters

Topics: animal-attacks, germany