White tiger mauls zookeeper to death
A zookeeper at a New Zealand wildlife park has been mauled to death by a white tiger in front of horrified visitors.
A spokeswoman for local police said that two zookeepers at Zion Wildlife Gardens near Whangarei had gone into the animal’s enclosure to clean it out when the tiger lunged at him, according to a report on CNN.com.
Other staff tried to pull the tiger off the man as visiting tourists looked on but he died shortly afterwards. The tiger was subsequently put down.
Zion Wildlife Park is renowned for its rare and exotic big cats but the park has run into trouble before. Last year animal inspectors criticised the crowded, unsanitary conditions in the park which caused so much concern that they considered having 40 percent of the animals put down, according to documents released by New Zealand’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
In a statement, the park said it would be closed until further notice: “This dreadful event is being investigated by the authorities and we will be cooperating fully with the investigations.”
was putting the tiger down really necessary. really? its a FUCKING wild animal. up the safety precautions instead of killing more wildlife. you lock these predators up in cages and expect them not be what they are…and that is a wild animal. this is ridiculous.