Tiger attacks zookeeper in front of horrified onlookers
Tiger attacks zookeeper in front of horrified onlookers:- A Russian zookeeper has been seriously injured after being mauled by a Siberian tiger while working in the animal’s enclosure.
The woman was transferred to a hospital in Kaliningrad, about 50km north of the Polish border, and her injuries are said to be non-life threatening.
Horrified onlookers said the animal pinned the woman down and began clawing and biting at her while she screamed and tried to fight off the attack.
In a statement, Kaliningrad Zoo said the unidentified zookeeper was saved by quick-thinking zoo visitors who yelled and threw stones and other objects, including a table and benches from a nearby cafe, into the enclosure, in order to distract the tiger and allow the woman to escape.
The zoo’s spokesperson Ekaterina Mikhailova said the 16-year-old tiger had never attacked or shown aggression to a zookeeper before and was now safely enclosed again, after being sedated due to stress. Zoo representatives said there would be no further action taken against the animal.
Ms Mikhailova said investigations into the incident will continue, however initial inquiries suggest the zookeeper violated safety rules which allowed the tiger to walk back into its enclosure while she was still inside.
No other zoo staff were present during the incident.
Amur tigers are classified as an endangered species and hunted by poachers in Russia’s far-east.
This isn’t the first time Kaliningrad Zoo has been in the news. In 2015 a reef shark died from cardiac arrest at the zoo, after suffering from a nervous breakdown caused by visitors repeatedly banging on the aquarium walls.
Source:-Â https://tenplay.com.au/news/national/november-2017/tiger-attacks-zookeeper-in-front-of-horrified-onlookers
