South Lakes Wild Animal Park Worker mauled by tiger

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gentle lemur

gentle lemur

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Report on BBC Radio 5 Live at 5.30pm that a 24 year old woman employee is in hospital after being severely injured by a tiger at South Lakes today. The tiger is secure in its enclosure and the park is closed to visitors.

Alan
 
Wishing the keeper a full and speedy recovery, but why on earth was she in the position where the Tiger could attack her?!
 
do we know which tiger? Amur or Sumatran. South Lakes has re appeared on facebook and announced they will be open as usual tomorrow
 
Saw this news on my feed in the U.S. After looking through the gallery of photos from this place, it doesn't look like it would be surprising something would go horribly wrong there. What a disgusting mess.
 
If proper procedures are being followed and all enclosures are properly maintained then the only contact a keeper should have with the animal in question is from the other side of the fence.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Reports now indicate that the keeper unfortunately has not survived her wounds :(

North West Evening Mail | News | Woman dies after tiger attack at Dalton Zoo
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I've never been to South Lakes, so I ought not to be too censorious. But
people whose opinions I respect do not speak kindly of the place. And, very sorry, but a well-run operation does not let keepers get into the position where a big cat can attack them.

My sympathies to the poor girl's family, and to her colleagues.
 
Can anyone confirm if both south lakes facebook pages have been deactivated, I can't seem to find them ????
 
Just posted on their Facebook page

"With deep sadness and shock the whole staff of SLWAP would like to pass on our condolences and heart felt sympathy to Sarah's family and friends. She was a bubbly girl, full of life at 24 and she had a real passion for her big cats. This has been a tragedy that remains unexplained as to why protocols were not followed and safety procedures missed by her to end up in with the Tigers. The investigations by the Police and Authorities have concluded that there was no fault on the part of the zoo, that the public or staff were never in any danger and that this was a devastating error on her part. The tigers remain unharmed the staff shocked.
It is the second tragic death of a young female member of staff in 3 weeks. We are all simply lost as to why?
Bethanie who worked in our Restaurant was a girl full of youth and life also taken by a road accident close to the zoo. To have both these young women loose their lives so young is hard to accept. Our love, thoughts and prayers are with both Sarah and Bethanies family and friends . We did not close the zoo when Bethanie died and we have decided not to close for Sarahs death also. We feel they would not have wanted us to do so. With the deepest of respect to both families we will grieve together as a team and make sure our missions are strengthened and our dedication to our passion of wild animals and their conservation gets stronger."
 
IanRRobinson said:
I've never been to South Lakes, so I ought not to be too censorious. But
people whose opinions I respect do not speak kindly of the place. And, very sorry, but a well-run operation does not let keepers get into the position where a big cat can attack them.

My sympathies to the poor girl's family, and to her colleagues.
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At this stage the circumstances of this incident have not been reported. I've never been to South Lakes but I think it's really inappropriate to immediately jump to conclusions because some vocal members dislike the management or the zoo itself (which doesn't seem to stop them visiting). The fact is accidents happen and similar incidents have happened in some of the worlds best zoos so to say this doesn't occur in a "well-run operation" is not true.

For what it's worth, I'd also like to express my sympathy for the young ladies family and colleagues
 
No matter what your thoughts are on the place, no facility deserves this. A truly sad and tragic situation.
Our thoughts to family, friends and colleagues.
 
IanRRobinson said:
I've never been to South Lakes, so I ought not to be too censorious. But
people whose opinions I respect do not speak kindly of the place. And, very sorry, but a well-run operation does not let keepers get into the position where a big cat can attack them.

My sympathies to the poor girl's family, and to her colleagues.
Click to expand...
I'm sure you didn't mean your post too harshly, but really accidents can happen at any zoo no matter what the procedures in place are. In 2003 a member of the public was killed by a tiger at Wellington Zoo (NZ), in 2006 a keeper was mauled by two lions at the same zoo, and this year a keeper at Hamilton Zoo (also NZ) had a lucky escape after inadvertantly being in the same cage as a tiger. Those are both respected zoos, certainly not of the Zion ilk where of course a keeper was killed by a tiger. South Lakes seems like a shambolic sort of place, but that doesn't necessarily translate to that being the reason for the accident.
 
CambsVet said:
Just posted on their Facebook page

"With deep sadness and shock the whole staff of SLWAP would like to pass on our condolences and heart felt sympathy to Sarah's family and friends. She was a bubbly girl, full of life at 24 and she had a real passion for her big cats. This has been a tragedy that remains unexplained as to why protocols were not followed and safety procedures missed by her to end up in with the Tigers. The investigations by the Police and Authorities have concluded that there was no fault on the part of the zoo, that the public or staff were never in any danger and that this was a devastating error on her part. The tigers remain unharmed the staff shocked.
It is the second tragic death of a young female member of staff in 3 weeks. We are all simply lost as to why?
Bethanie who worked in our Restaurant was a girl full of youth and life also taken by a road accident close to the zoo. To have both these young women loose their lives so young is hard to accept. Our love, thoughts and prayers are with both Sarah and Bethanies family and friends . We did not close the zoo when Bethanie died and we have decided not to close for Sarahs death also. We feel they would not have wanted us to do so. With the deepest of respect to both families we will grieve together as a team and make sure our missions are strengthened and our dedication to our passion of wild animals and their conservation gets stronger."
Click to expand...

Seems to have been retracted now, after 207 comments.
 
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