South Lakes Wild Animal Park Worker mauled by tiger

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ThylacineAlive said:
Zoo worker dies after tiger attack - World News

Poor girl:( And poor tiger!:( It'll probably be killed and after some bad publicity David Gill will keep his park up and running and go on like nothing ever happened.

Unlike my feeling with the Pittsburgh sueing, I hope the family sues the zoo!:mad:
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two questions:
why would the tiger "probably be killed"?
why would/should the family sue the zoo?
 
Firstly my thoughts go out to the girl her family, friends and work colleges. So very sad.

Here is the link to the Health and Safety Executives page which explains the procedures when a work related death occurs, which people might be interested to read. Investigation - Work Related Deaths and Inquests - Enforcement Guide (England & Wales)

I am by no means an expert in these matters but If the police have finished their investigations, as stated, then it would appear that indeed the zoo has no case to answer.

A second link to the a BBC report which includes an interview with the zoo's founding member Mr Gill may also be of interest. BBC News - Tiger attack zoo worker dies

Finally a link to the Cumbria police web site http://www.cumbria.police.uk/news/latest-news/police-attend-incident-at-south-lakes-wild-animal-park
 
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ThylacineAlive said:
Zoo worker dies after tiger attack - World News

Poor girl:( And poor tiger!:( It'll probably be killed and after some bad publicity David Gill will keep his park up and running and go on like nothing ever happened.

Unlike my feeling with the Pittsburgh sueing, I hope the family sues the zoo!:mad:

~Thylo:cool:
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Regardless of personal opinions about the owner/collection, if it is found that the young lady ignored safety protocols etc, she is the only one to blame. The HSE won't hold back if the owners are responsible.

Instead of looking for someone to blame why not think about the young ladies family at this time.
 
From SKY news:

A female zoo worker who was injured in a tiger attack at an animal park in Cumbria has died, police have said.

Sarah McClay, 24, was in the big cat enclosure when she was mauled at South Lakes Wild Animal Park in Dalton-in-Furness on Friday afternoon.

She was taken by air ambulance to Royal Preston Hospital immediately after the incident, where she later died.

Ms McClay was from the Barrow-in-Furness area. Cumbria police described her death as "tragic".

In a statement, the force said: "Sarah's family are very shocked and distressed and request that they have privacy as they try to come to terms with their loss.

"Police and Barrow Borough Council are continuing to investigate the circumstances that led to this terrible incident."

Officers said the tiger was locked in its enclosure following the attack and that members of the public were not at any risk during the incident.

Visitors were asked to leave the wildlife park before it closed early. It is thought possible that some of them could have seen the attack.

The animal that carried out the attack was a Sumatran tiger. The park's website says it keeps both Amur (Siberian) and Sumatran tigers.

The animals can be up to three metres long and weigh around 300kg (47 stone).

David Gill, the owner and founder of South Lakes Wild Animal Park, said Ms McClay was very experienced in looking after big cats and that he had no explanation as to why she had entered the enclosure.

He said: "After investigation by the authorities here and the police, it does seem that she just basically failed to follow the correct procedures.

"For some unknown reason, an inexplicable reason, because there is no reason for why she did it, she opened the door and went into the tiger enclosure and straight into the tigers, and now we'll never know why."

Ms McClay had worked at the wildlife park for a number of years and was "very proficient" in her work with big cats.

Mr Gill told BBC Radio 5 Live that it was against strict safety protocols to walk into the tiger's cage, adding that the zoo had passed a major inspection on Monday, in which it was praised for its safety standards.

The incident happened at about 4pm on Friday, when staff were working as normal and the park was open to the public.

The tiger has been at the park for 10 years since it was a cub.

Mr Gill said: "He didn't make the mistake. He was just there. It's so difficult because we don't blame him for what has happened.

"It would be very much a tragedy for him. He's one of the rarest animals in the world, a Sumatran tiger, and it's something we don't want to do."

It is understood from various news sources that the park has closed off the big cat exhibit forthe day however, police and HSE are still investigating and looking into who witnessed this including staff and members of the public. Today the park has opened and will continue to remain open. Deepest sympathies to a fellow zoo keeper, to her family and friends. Respect and courtesy is equired at such a sad time.
 
'It's not the park's fault': Zoo owner blames worker, 24, for her own death after she was mauled by a tiger as she fed it in its enclosure
Sarah McClay was mauled at South Lakes Wild Animal Park in Cumbria
She suffered serious injuries and went into cardiac arrest following attack
Zoo owner David Gill blamed her, saying she broke strict safety protocols
By ELEANOR HARDING, CHRIS BROOKE and ROSIE TAYLOR
PUBLISHED: 17:39, 24 May 2013 | UPDATED: 11:08, 25 May 2013


Read more: Cumbria Zoo attack: Sarah McClay dies after being mauled by tiger | Mail Online
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
 
Is the caging of wild animals inherently inhumane? And if so, when one of these ferocious hunting machines such as the tiger in question does what comes naturally, what does that tell us about how we approach animal conservation worldwide?

Even in modern zoos, tigers, lions and other big cats repeatedly pace, frustrated because their hunting and territorial instincts are denied.

Tigers are as unpredictable as they are beautiful.
 
Personally, I feel what Peter Dickinson wrote on his ZooNewsDigest says it all:
"The tragic and sad death of Sarah McClay at the South Lakes Wild Animal Park is being much discussed on line. Lots of conclusions being jumped to. Before I give my own I would like to offer my deep and sincere condolences to Sarah's family, friends and work colleagues. Any death is hard to deal with and in such circumstances especially so. Staff do not enter enclosures with Tigers at South Lakes. They do enter the enclosures for cleaning and to hang meat on the feeding poles. As the accident occurred in the afternoon then it is easy to rule out cleaning. I believe that Sarah was in the enclosure to hang meat on the poles. Whereas this could be carried out by one keeper it is likely another was involved. The operation involves calling the tigers into the dens and securing them there. The keeper then enters the enclosure and hangs the meat. This done they egress and the cats are let back into the enclosure. They move very very fast. So, somewhere along the way a door was not secured properly or the cats were given access before Sarah left the enclosure. Whichever way you look at it, it was keeper error. In many ways it will be even more of a tragedy if it was not Sarah who made the error.

Another very sad aspect to this accident is that South Lakes will see a hike in visitor numbers in the coming months. The gawkers."

Having seen, witnessed and dealt with something of a similar nature at Edinburg Zoo, back in the winter of 1988, when I was being shown my duties by a fellow keeper called Stephen. Stephen had his forearm almost torn off, blood and damage to human life was unspeakable and this was done by amale gorilla called Gori. The zoo failed to give us at the time help, were just told not to talk to the press. From that day on, zoo keeping took another meaning for us all in the primate section. I was with Stephen, just us two and yes this was keeper error, he did something he should not have done and paid the price for it. What saddens me is when the owner or society try to cover up, blame, or hide their heads in the sand. Until all the processes, checks and balances have been made, re-made, then laying blame or saying sour things is cruel and wrong. I do hope Mr Gill takes note and learns from this as do us all.
 
Satan said:
Regardless of personal opinions about the owner/collection, if it is found that the young lady ignored safety protocols etc, she is the only one to blame. The HSE won't hold back if the owners are responsible.

Instead of looking for someone to blame why not think about the young ladies family at this time.
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Chlidonias said:
two questions:
why would the tiger "probably be killed"?
why would/should the family sue the zoo?
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Oh I apologize if it appeared like I wasn't concerned about the girl's family and only looking for someone to blame! My deepest condolences go to both young women's family and friends.

Of course if she ignored the protocol then it was her fault and this whole thing was an unfortunate accident. Of course if it wasn't then I hope the local police investigate this to the best of their abilities which I'm sure they will.

I'm not sure why I said the tiger would probably be killed! It was late and that must of been an accidental statement and I apologize.

I don't know about over there in England, but here in the U.S., family's of visitors/workers that are killed at zoos have sued the zoos even if it was obvious that it was the deceased fault. A good example is what's going on at the Pittsburgh Zoo right now- A mother brought her child to the zoo and decided to hold him up over the railing of the African Wild Dog enclosure and he fell and was killed by the dogs. Now the family is sueing saying that the zoo didn't give them any warning about the dangers despite there being a sign there saying not to do what she did. All a big unfortunate mess.

It's my hope that, if it was this poor young lady's fault, then the family will not sue the zoo.

~Thylo:cool:
 
bigcat speciali said:
Stephen had his forearm almost torn off, blood and damage to human life was unspeakable and this was done by amale gorilla called Gori.
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I had heard in the past that 'Gori' was particularly untrustworthy and aggressive and staff were 'terrified of him'. Now I know why.....
 
Pertinax said:
I had heard in the past that 'Gori' was particularly untrustworthy and aggressive and staff were 'terrified of him'. Now I know why.....
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Gori was very aggressive, running up to the cage doors from the outside trying to get at the keepers, even when inside he would display over-aggressive actions not just to us as staff but to the rest of the animals. After the incident he was ent to Japan.
 
It does not matter how big or small your charge is, there will be danger somewhere along the line and, you can never negate 100% the danger, the worry and the hazards. To have a life taken is bad enough, to have it done in such a manner is gut-wrenching. Unless you have gone through such an event then no one can say they they understand. At this very moment in time, calm reflection, courtesy should be given to all and to remember that someone has indeed los a life out of a very sad and tragic circumstance.
 
First, I would like to offer my condolences to the keeper's family, friends and staff at the SL Wild Animal Park. It is certainly is a difficult one to come to terms with.

I agree with some that accidents do happen in any zoo environment. What transpired here continues to be anybody's guess. Will the truth come out ... (I honestly do not know). What I do know is that in quite a few respected zoos keeper accidents and even deaths have occurred and continue to occur. The South Lakes WAP has come up in discussions before in terms of unconventional / flawed zoo designs, yet as Chlidonias pointed out rightly that does not necessarily translate into this having been the case here.

Illustrative of this is - I remember - a recent episode involved a tiger at Koeln Zoo (the director had to shoot the tiger then as the keeper in question was still being mauled by the tiger) in Germany. And really there are many more ..., after all we are human and sometimes fallible (I do not suggest the keeper in question was ..).

In my experience, all zoo keeper staff do their jobs to the best of their ability every day again. They love their work, often working long hours, if not late and for small take home pay, yet none would consciously endanger themselves nor any other people around. Consequently, I wish people would refrain from making any judgements on them or the South Lakes keeper in question and her colleagues (both on this forum and in the media I have seen judgements passed that had my blood boil) here.
 
A very tragic incident; any loss of human life is tragic. My symapthies to the lady's family.

What does not surprise me is that David Gill is heaping all the blame on this zookeeper who has lost her life whilst in his employ.

It comes as no surprise to me that there isn't any mention of the incident; not even a condolence message on their website.

One report I read says that all staff wanted the zoo to open as normal on Saturday. I can't say there's any special reason to close it although it would be a mark of respect to close it on the day of the lady's funeral. But, I believe staff were given very little choice about whether the place re-opened the day after the accident.
 
chimpman said:
A very tragic incident; any loss of human life is tragic. My symapthies to the lady's family.

What does not surprise me is that David Gill is heaping all the blame on this zookeeper who has lost her life whilst in his employ.

It comes as no surprise to me that there isn't any mention of the incident; not even a condolence message on their website.

One report I read says that all staff wanted the zoo to open as normal on Saturday. I can't say there's any special reason to close it although it would be a mark of respect to close it on the day of the lady's funeral. But, I believe staff were given very little choice about whether the place re-opened the day after the accident.
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there was a kind of condolence message put up last night saying how it was all the keepers fault and the park themselves where blameless, it got 200ish negative comments and was promptly removed

this was the message Original text - "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."
 
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Quote from their Facebook pages
"Statement
After hearing the Headlines in the National to be out in the morning, we wish to record that it is totally untrue that anyone has stated that Sarah killed herself in a pre meditated way. This is sensationalism at its worst, something we are supposed to be eradicating from our press?
We are so sickened by the media coverage and feel so bad about the twisted way words are used we are withdrawing from all communication about this subject to protect the family and friends of Sarah and try to give peace.
We have learned a lot about the social and press media in a few hours and no matter what we do, what we say or what we feel it is never represented by anyone in the manner we intend it to be , that being full of compassion, care and understanding. We have made a statement that from the investigations that have taken place it is clear that this tragedy was caused by a sad error of judgement and breach of protocols , in essence keeper error. This is not blame, it is not anything but defining the facts as they appear. This does not mean Sarah killed herself on purpose it means simply she died from her own tragic mistake. We are leaving this post up for a few minutes and then in respect and to allow reason to be heard we are taking down our fb pages ."
 
Waddi said:
Quote from their Facebook pages
"Statement
After hearing the Headlines in the National to be out in the morning, we wish to record that it is totally untrue that anyone has stated that Sarah killed herself in a pre meditated way. This is sensationalism at its worst, something we are supposed to be eradicating from our press?
We are so sickened by the media coverage and feel so bad about the twisted way words are used we are withdrawing from all communication about this subject to protect the family and friends of Sarah and try to give peace.
We have learned a lot about the social and press media in a few hours and no matter what we do, what we say or what we feel it is never represented by anyone in the manner we intend it to be , that being full of compassion, care and understanding. We have made a statement that from the investigations that have taken place it is clear that this tragedy was caused by a sad error of judgement and breach of protocols , in essence keeper error. This is not blame, it is not anything but defining the facts as they appear. This does not mean Sarah killed herself on purpose it means simply she died from her own tragic mistake. We are leaving this post up for a few minutes and then in respect and to allow reason to be heard we are taking down our fb pages ."
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I've not seen anywhere in the press that she killed herself! He has the worst social media skills of anyone! All the quotes I have seen came from his random messaging last night which he removed
 
I think it would be quite reasonable to infer who is writing whatever communications are coming out of South Lakes Wild Animal Park. It is obvious that an attempt is being made by the senior management to distance themselves from any responsibility. Their condolences are worthless: "we are very sorry but it was your own fault".

I doubt that the police and others have completed their investigations and reached conclusions. If they're not at this point how can the management of this zoo draw any conclusions? Were they first-hand witnesses? If they were not, as is they most likely scenario, they cannot know what happened. If they were first-hand witnesses a whole series of questions need answering.

If SLWAP is trying to limit any negative publicity I would advise them to change their marketing or PR staff.

I can't even begin to fathom the workings of the mind suggesting the keeper may have deliberately gotten herself killed. The same sick mind is now trying to criticise the press and media for their own perverse imagination.

I really feel deeply for her family to have her death turned into a bizarre media event by a very strange man.
 
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