- The 52-year-old man, whose name has not been identified, was reportedly bitten on the head.
A zoo employee in Romania was killed by a tiger after entering the animal’s cage and not following safety protocols, local media report.
The 52-year-old man, who has not been named, was reportedly bitten on the head by the animal at Pitesti Zoo on Monday morning.
While bringing food to the big cat, the keeper allegedly ignored health and safety regulations requiring the tigers to be completely separated from the access area.
The zookeeper reportedly forgot to close the security gate and the animal was able to lunge at the man, mauling him for several minutes.
Emergency services quickly arrived at the scene and the man was rushed to hospital. Tragically, he could not be saved.
Police are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding the death and a criminal case has been filed for manslaughter and failure to comply with legal health and safety measures, according to local news site Gandul.
The zoo, located 60 miles from Bucharest, said it was the first time in its 50-year history that such an incident had occurred and promised to investigate internally and support the police investigation.
“We will work with all authorities involved to understand exactly what happened and ensure such tragedies do not happen again,” he said in a statement.
The zoo released a photo of one of its tigers, Ares, over the weekend before the deadly incident Monday morning.
The zoo, located 60 miles from Bucharest, said it was the first time in its 50-year history that such an incident had occurred.
‘We reiterate our commitment to maintaining the highest safety standards in all activities carried out at the Zoo. It is our responsibility to protect the lives of all those who work there and also ensure the welfare of the animals.’
The mayor of Pitesti expressed his condolences in a statement on Facebook. “This is a huge loss and our thoughts are with the victim’s family and all their loved ones in this time of grief,” he said.
“I have ordered the temporary suspension of activities at the Zoo to conduct a thorough investigation,” the statement continued. “We will take all necessary measures to avoid other tragedies of this type.”
The zoo’s security protocols are expected to be radically overhauled in the coming weeks to prevent similar attacks from occurring, The Sun reports.
It is currently closed to the public while the police investigation continues.
The facility is home to several tigers, including a Siberian tiger named Ares, which he posted a photo of on Facebook last Friday.
The image shared by Pitesti Zoo in September shows a Siberian tiger named Ares.
In recent years there have been several incidents with tigers in Romanian zoos, including Pitesti.
In 2000, a tiger escaped from Pitesti Zoo because a worker forgot to close the doors.
Fortunately, the tiger was located an hour later wandering through a nearby forest and was taken back to its cage.