A young zookeeper died last night after being mauled by one of her Sumatran tigers.
Sarah McClay, 24, from the Barrow area, was in the tiger enclosure at a zoo in the Lake District when she was attacked.
Ambulance crews said she suffered ‘very traumatic injuries’ to her head and neck at South Lakes Wild Animal Park, Dalton-in-Furness, and went into cardiac arrest.
She was resuscitated by paramedics and airlifted to Royal Preston Hospital following the attack yesterday, but she later died.
Owner David Gill said it was 'not the park's fault' and that Miss McClay had broken safety protocols by going into the tigers’ enclosure.
He said she was very experienced in looking after big cats and that he had no explanation as to why she had gone in.
Mr Gill told BBC Radio 5 Live yesterday: ‘After investigation by the authorities here and the police, it does seem that she just basically failed to follow the correct procedures.
‘For some unknown reason, an inexplicable reason, because there is no reason for why she did it, she opened the door and went into the tiger enclosure and straight into the tigers, and now we'll never know why.’
He told Sky News that zoo staff had heard a scream over the radio and run to the scene.
'Within two minutes we had firearms on scene but sadly we just could not get a clean shot to do anything about it because of exactly where the animal was, so we did our best, we moved around to find a shot,' he said.
'Very, very quickly I let off two shots to frighten the animals and it did what it needed to do which was to lift them off and they ran back into the house and other keepers locked them up.
'Once we knew we were secure and safe we went into the enclosure to retrieve Sarah.'
Visitors were asked to leave the wildlife park yesterday before it closed early. It has reopened today.
Police and Barrow Borough Council are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Mr Gill said Miss McClay had worked at the wildlife park for a number of years and was ‘very proficient’ in her work with big cats.
He said that it was against strict safety protocols to walk into the tiger's cage, adding that the zoo had passed a major inspection on Monday, in which it was praised for its safety standards.
The incident happened at about 4pm, when staff were working as normal and the park was open to the public.
Mr Gill told the BBC: ‘An emergency call went out over the radio and we responded immediately. I was on the scene within 30 seconds.
‘It was just unfortunate that everything happened so quick. It's so difficult to talk about because it was so upsetting.
‘We moved all the public back of course. I think one member of the public did witness a part of the attack but I don't think there was anyone else who saw that.’
Emphasising that at no point was there any threat to the public, he said: ‘It just seems quite inexplicable. None of us have been able to come up with a really reasonable conclusion.
‘All we know is that no one else was involved, there was nobody with her, and for some unknown reason she opened a door and walked straight into the tigers.’
Mr Gill described Miss McClay as ‘a very passionate girl, very enthusiastic’ who was ‘extremely good at delivering conservation talks. A very valued part of our team. A very bubbly character, a very happy girl.’
He said that Miss McClay's death was the second tragedy for the park this month, after another employee was killed in a road accident.
Police said Miss McClay's family were ‘very shocked and distressed’ and had requested privacy to grieve.
A spokesman for North West Ambulance Service said paramedics were on the scene within nine minutes.
‘We sent an ambulance and helicopter and she was air lifted to hospital in Preston. She was extremely ill, the spokesman said.
‘They were very traumatic injuries. She was very badly mauled. She went into cardiac arrest at the scene.
‘The crews performed CPR on her and managed to bring her back so that she could be flown by helicopter.
‘The crews who were there were offered counselling afterwards, as is standard procedure with this kind of incident.’
Early reports suggested police armed response units were also alerted.
Mr Gill added the park would stay open following the death.
‘There was a huge consensus of opinion (among staff) that we should carry on,’ he said. ‘It's not the park's fault if you will. It's not going to do anybody any good if we closed.’
Sarah McClay, 24, from the Barrow area, was in the tiger enclosure at a zoo in the Lake District when she was attacked.
Ambulance crews said she suffered ‘very traumatic injuries’ to her head and neck at South Lakes Wild Animal Park, Dalton-in-Furness, and went into cardiac arrest.
She was resuscitated by paramedics and airlifted to Royal Preston Hospital following the attack yesterday, but she later died.
Owner David Gill said it was 'not the park's fault' and that Miss McClay had broken safety protocols by going into the tigers’ enclosure.
He said she was very experienced in looking after big cats and that he had no explanation as to why she had gone in.
Mr Gill told BBC Radio 5 Live yesterday: ‘After investigation by the authorities here and the police, it does seem that she just basically failed to follow the correct procedures.
‘For some unknown reason, an inexplicable reason, because there is no reason for why she did it, she opened the door and went into the tiger enclosure and straight into the tigers, and now we'll never know why.’
He told Sky News that zoo staff had heard a scream over the radio and run to the scene.
'Within two minutes we had firearms on scene but sadly we just could not get a clean shot to do anything about it because of exactly where the animal was, so we did our best, we moved around to find a shot,' he said.
'Very, very quickly I let off two shots to frighten the animals and it did what it needed to do which was to lift them off and they ran back into the house and other keepers locked them up.
'Once we knew we were secure and safe we went into the enclosure to retrieve Sarah.'
Visitors were asked to leave the wildlife park yesterday before it closed early. It has reopened today.
Police and Barrow Borough Council are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Mr Gill said Miss McClay had worked at the wildlife park for a number of years and was ‘very proficient’ in her work with big cats.
He said that it was against strict safety protocols to walk into the tiger's cage, adding that the zoo had passed a major inspection on Monday, in which it was praised for its safety standards.
The incident happened at about 4pm, when staff were working as normal and the park was open to the public.
Mr Gill told the BBC: ‘An emergency call went out over the radio and we responded immediately. I was on the scene within 30 seconds.
‘It was just unfortunate that everything happened so quick. It's so difficult to talk about because it was so upsetting.
‘We moved all the public back of course. I think one member of the public did witness a part of the attack but I don't think there was anyone else who saw that.’
Emphasising that at no point was there any threat to the public, he said: ‘It just seems quite inexplicable. None of us have been able to come up with a really reasonable conclusion.
‘All we know is that no one else was involved, there was nobody with her, and for some unknown reason she opened a door and walked straight into the tigers.’
Mr Gill described Miss McClay as ‘a very passionate girl, very enthusiastic’ who was ‘extremely good at delivering conservation talks. A very valued part of our team. A very bubbly character, a very happy girl.’
He said that Miss McClay's death was the second tragedy for the park this month, after another employee was killed in a road accident.
Police said Miss McClay's family were ‘very shocked and distressed’ and had requested privacy to grieve.
A spokesman for North West Ambulance Service said paramedics were on the scene within nine minutes.
‘We sent an ambulance and helicopter and she was air lifted to hospital in Preston. She was extremely ill, the spokesman said.
‘They were very traumatic injuries. She was very badly mauled. She went into cardiac arrest at the scene.
‘The crews performed CPR on her and managed to bring her back so that she could be flown by helicopter.
‘The crews who were there were offered counselling afterwards, as is standard procedure with this kind of incident.’
Early reports suggested police armed response units were also alerted.
Mr Gill added the park would stay open following the death.
‘There was a huge consensus of opinion (among staff) that we should carry on,’ he said. ‘It's not the park's fault if you will. It's not going to do anybody any good if we closed.’
Souyrce : DailyMail
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