Zoo security
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A MORE complete picture of the incident in which a cleaner was killed by two tigers at the zoo will be available after police conclude their ongoing investigations, Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang has said.
Describing the Nov 13 incident as ‘unfortunate’, he said zookeepers were on the scene within a minute of the alarm being sounded while licensed shooters arrived within five minutes.
In a written reply to a question from opposition MP Chiam See Tong (Potong Pasir), Mr Lim said it was ‘widely reported that the deceased took deliberate steps to put himself into harm’s way, by jumping into the moat, climbing out of the water and then advancing towards the tigers’.
Mr Chiam asked about emergency measures at the zoo, and if there were alarms or emergency buttons that staff and visitors can use in an emergency.
A debate about safety at the Singapore Zoo erupted after 32-year-old cleaner Nordin Montong from Sarawak climbed into the white tiger enclosure and baited two big cats with a pail and a broom before they mauled him to death.
In a written reply released on Tuesday, Mr Lim said the zoo reviewed and improved safety measures after the event: ‘It has stepped up the number of staff patrolling the park, and installed emergency SOS phones for visitors at the four open-concept dangerous animal exhibits - the white tiger, lion, polar bear and chimpanzee.’
Two emergency alarm buttons with sirens have also been installed at the white tiger exhibit as part of ongoing efforts to ensure that it is a safe attraction.
Shedding light on safety standards and emergency protocols, he said all animal enclosures comply with international safety standards set under guidelines of the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and European Association of Zoos and Aquaria.
Exhibits are inspected daily by staff. Any problems identified are rectified immediately. A team of expert staff also conduct monthly audits of these checks.
Emergency protocols are also based on guidelines from the AZA. The zoo regularly consults its counterparts in the United States, such as the San Diego Zoo, to ‘update and improve its protocols’.
Should someone fall into an enclosure, steps taken include sounding an alert immediately, distracting the animals and opening den doors to allow animals to move away. Added Mr Lim: ‘If human life is threatened or perceived to be threatened, the zoo has licensed shooters to take out the animal.’
The zookeeper who was attacked and critically injured by a jaguar at the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo in Thurmont this weekend was identified Tuesday as Deborah Gregory, of Severn, according to Maryland state police.
Gregory, 32, remained in critical, but stable, condition Tuesday at University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore after she was attacked about 11 a.m. Sunday while working in the interior den area of the jaguar enclosure at the Frederick County zoo, about an hour outside Baltimore.
When Gregory called for help, staff members moved the animals from the interior den to the exterior exhibit area, so Gregory could receive first aid by staff members and emergency medical technicians before being taken to Shock Trauma.
Zoo officials said Gregory suffered several bite wounds to her upper body from a 13-year-old black jaguar named Diego, a male weighing between 180 and 200 pounds.
Animal control workers did not know for sure if a second jaguar, a female, entered the indoor area or participated in the attack.
The two jaguars, which were properly vaccinated, were placed in quarantine Monday, while zoo officials continued investigating the attack.
Frederick County Animal Control Director Harold Domer said he surveyed the jaguar enclosure Monday and found the safety precautions were “extremely adequate.”
“For whatever reasons, the jaguar was able to get from the outside exhibit into the inside enclosure,” he said. “But at no point, did either of the jaguars escape from the outdoor enclosure into the zoo, so, there was never any risk to anyone else.”
Gregory was a relatively new animal caretaker who’d been working at the privately owned zoo for about a month as a big-cat keeper, officials said.
The incident was the zoo’s first serious attack since it opened in 1993.
The zoo is closed to the public for the season.