Menagerie a trois!
Love rival zoo keepers in vicious catfight over the llama expert who dumped one then dated the other
IT is not unusual for the creatures they tend at the zoo to fight tooth and claw over a mate.
But it was two female keepers who displayed their animal instincts when they fell for the same man.
Their catfight at London Zoo’s Christmas party ended with Caroline Westlake hitting Kate Sanders in the face with a glass, slicing through her cheek and leaving her needing stitches, an employment tribunal heard.
Miss Sanders, who had punched her rival, then held Miss Westlake backwards over a balcony and spat at her, it was alleged. But while Miss Sanders, 32, kept her job looking after the tigers and monkeys, Miss Westlake, 30, was sacked from her post tending the meerkats and working in the rainforest zone.
The love rivals had been fighting over colleague Adam Davies, 30, who looks after the llamas and works in the children’s Animal Adventure area.
He and Miss Sanders were together for five years but split. Soon afterwards he asked Miss Westlake out but she turned him down as she didn’t want to be his ‘rebound’. Mr Davies went out with another woman who worked in the gift shop but when they split four months later he pursued Miss Westlake again.
The pair became an item and tried to avoid Miss Sanders at social events and at work. However she often sent video, texts and pictures to Mr Davies when he was with Miss Westlake, Central London Employment Tribunal heard.
Then came the staff Christmas party, held at the zoo’s Prince Albert Suite on December 8 last year, where, while in the loos, Miss Westlake overheard Miss Sanders describe her as looking ‘a state’.
She also told the tribunal how Miss Sanders would dance through her group of friends and always seemed to appear whenever she was talking to Mr Davies.
Later, when Miss Westlake went to get her bag from the cloakroom, Miss Sanders saw her and sarcastically apologised for her earlier remark, then accused her of trying to go out with Mr Davies before they split. Miss Westlake, of Epsom, Surrey, who claims she was sober, told the tribunal: ‘She was drunk and aggressive. She shouted, “You’re dating my ex-boyfriend”.
‘Kate then went on to shout in my face, “Everyone hates you, everyone says you are mad”. I replied, “They say same the same about you” at which point Kate punched me on my jawline. As she punched me, I hit out blindly to protect my face, unaware of the drink I had been holding. Everything stopped and I realised Kate’s face had been cut. My recollection after that was Kate screaming, swearing and spitting in my face. She was spraying spit at me. I remember feeling helpless and terrified and unable to speak.’
Witness saw Miss Sanders, her face cut, holding Miss Westlake ‘bent right back over the balcony’ above a 30ft drop, the tribunal heard.
Miss Sanders, of Crouch End, North London, was given a final written warning and banned from Zoological Society of London events for two years. Miss Westlake, who had worked at the zoo for four and a half years, was sacked. When an appeal failed, she went to the tribunal claiming unfair dismissal. London Zoo says Miss West- lake was not discriminated against but was treated more harshly than Miss Sanders because of the severity of the injury she caused.
Zoo human resources director Fiona Evans said: ‘We felt that there was a clear distinction in the seriousness of Caroline’s and Kate’s actions based on the undisputed evidence about Caroline glassing Kate.
‘Kate was found to have engaged in fighting with Caroline which was more than just self- defence and which resulted in Caroline sustaining a bruise on her arm. However there was no evidence to show Kate had initially punched Caroline.’
Miss Westlake also claimed disability discrimination, saying her employers failed to address her attention deficit disorder and dys- praxia, a condition that affects coordination. The tribunal reserved its judgment.
Outside the hearing, Miss Westlake – who has been summonsed to appear before Westminster magistrates on September 25 on an allegation of assault – said: ‘I’m not sure what I can say at the moment, just that if I had any idea what was in store for me at that party I would not have attended. It was my dream job and my life has been completely turned upside down.’
Yesterday a spokesman said the Zoological Society of London disputed the claims for unfair dismissal and direct disability discrimination, adding: ‘We believe our disciplinary procedures are fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory.’
‘Spitting in
my face’