Witnesses looked on in horror as a 55-Year-old Zoo Zurich, Switzerland female zookeeper was mauled to death by a Siberian tiger.
The Siberian tiger, an Amur tigress named Irina was born in 2015 at a zoo in the Danish city of Odense and transferred to Zurich a year ago, according to Zoo Zurich director Severin Dressen.
It is unclear how she came to be in the enclosure at the same with the tiger. This has triggered an investigation into the ‘tragic incident’.
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The investigation will reportedly include the Zurich public prosecutor’s office, the Zurich city police, the Zurich Forensic Institute, and the Institute for Forensic Medicine.
‘Our full sympathy is with the relatives of the victim,’ Dressen said, adding that the keeper had been a long-term member of the zoo staff.
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The Zurich zoo hosts two adult Amur tigers – a four-and-a-half-year-old male called Sayan and five-year-old Irina – who is believed to have attacked the zookeeper.
The zoo, which only recently reopened following a coronavirus-related shutdown, will remain closed on Sunday.
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It’s not the first time an attack has been reported at Zoo Zurich. In December 2019, a crocodile grabbed a zookeeper’s arm during a routine enclosure cleaning.
The keeper had to undergo surgery for the resulting injury, and the crocodile was shot.
