Zoo admits guilt over keeper’s tiger death

A zoo where a keeper was mauled to death by a tiger admitted yesterday that a lapse in health and safety protocol led to the death of 24-year-old Sarah McClay in May 2013.

Miss McClay died when a faulty bolt on the door of the tiger pen at South Lakes Safari Zoo in Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria allowed the Sumatran tiger to attack the keeper.

Sentencing will take place at Preston Crown Court tomorrow.

In July 2014, the zoo pleaded guilty to two contraventions of the Health and Safety at Work Act when keeper Yasmin Walker fell from a ladder while preparing to feed the big cats.