Visitor raised alarm after zookeper mauled to death by tiger, inquest told
A keeper mauled to death by a tiger at a zoo was discovered by a visitor in the public viewing area who raised the alarm, an inquest has heard.
Rosa King, 33, was cleaning the windows of the tiger enclosure when she was attacked by a Malayan male called Cicip at Hamerton Zoo Park in Cambridgeshire.
She died at the scene on 29 May 2017, Monday’s inquest in Huntingdon was told.
Nicholas Moss, Cambridgeshire’s assistant coroner, said that immediately after the attack two gates and a metal vertical slide, designed to ensure staff and tigers were not in the paddock at the same time, were found to have been open.
Ms King, who was working alone, entered the enclosure shortly before the zoo opened to the public at 10am.
Frank York, a visitor to the zoo, saw her body from the viewing area and raised the alarm. Keepers fetched the zoo’s tranquiliser gun, while armed firearms officers and paramedics attended.
Neither the tranquiliser nor police firearms were used. Mr Moss said keepers “were able to entice Cicip back into his run and the slide was closed behind him to make the area safe again”.
He added: “It had been apparent from as soon as Rosa was seen that she had died.”
Her death was formally pronounced at 11:46am, with her many injuries including lacerations and puncture wounds.
Mr Moss said “immediately after the attack” the slide intended to separate the main paddock from a run leading to the tiger house was found to be in the open position. The slide was raised and lowered by wires attached to a system of pulleys.
Mr Moss said a police investigation “suggested there was not any mechanical fault with the gates and slides”.
The inquest heard Ms King worked 45 hours a week during the summer months and also worked some overtime.
Her parents Peter and Andrea King listened to coroner Mr Moss open the inquest yesterday.
The hearing, listed for two weeks, continues.