Mauled keeper

FAMILY BACK DEATH PARK DECISION

THE tiger that mauled a zoo keeper to death will not be put down, its owners have said.

Rosa King, 33, was killed by the wild animal after it entered an enclosure she was in during a “freak accident”.

Following the keeper’s tragic death, tens of thousands of people backed an online petition calling for the tiger’s life to be saved.

The park is home to two white tigers, Mohan and Shiva, and Malayan tigers Cicip and Sahaja. But it has not made public which is responsible for Rosa’s death. In a statement on its Facebook ® site, Hamerton Zoo Park near Huntingdon, Cambs, told followers it had “decided not to put down the tiger”.

It went on to say that the family of Rosa had backed the park’s decision.

The zoo said: “After extensive consultation with the staff at the zoo, we have decided not to put down the tiger.

“This decision has been fully supported by Rosa’s family.

“We are awaiting the findings of the investigation to fully understand what happened before we take further action on this matter.

“If we receive regulatory or professional guidance to the contrary, we will review our position.” A post-mortem examination is understood to have been carried out on Rosa’s body but the results have not yet been released.

An inquest into the keeper’s death is due to open at Cambridgeshire Coroners’ Court today.

The zoo hit the headlines in October 2008 when an escaped cheetah was found by a nine-year-old boy in the back garden of his family home.

And inspectors raised concerns over “ageing” fencing and safety barriers in 2013 but Huntingdonshire District Council stated that “all of the conditions on that report were fully complied with”.