A zookeeper was killed in a lion assault in Thailand, officers mentioned Wednesday, elevating questions over security and the legitimacy of the safari park’s lion possession.
The mauling occurred at Safari World Bangkok, which calls itself one in all Asia’s largest open-air zoos and provides lion- and tiger-feeding journeys for round $37 per particular person.
“The deceased is a zoo workers member who often fed the lions,” Sadudee Punpugdee, wildlife safety director of the Division of Nationwide Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, advised AFP.
He was apparently mauled by six or seven of the large cats when he stepped out of his automotive, he mentioned.
Tavatchai Kanchanarin, a health care provider and zoo customer who witnessed the assault, mentioned “a person bought off an uncovered automotive and stood alone along with his again turned to the animals, which I believed was bizarre.”
“He stood for about three minutes, then a lion walked slowly and grabbed him from the again. He didn’t scream,” Kanchanarin advised native media Thairath tv.
“We wish to specific our honest condolences to the deceased animal keeper,” mentioned Edwin Wiek from conservation group Wildlife Buddies Basis Thailand in a assertion posted to Fb. “This incident ought to function a stark reminder that these animals, even when raised by people from start, nonetheless pose a critical risk to human life that may be triggered with out warning.”
A senior zoo official, whose title was withheld, advised native media that all the park’s lions had been licensed.
“We now have guidelines and we repeat them typically as we work with harmful animals,” he mentioned.
The sufferer, who had labored as a zoo supervisor for greater than 30 years, was “a sort man,” he added.
In a Fb publish, Safari World Bangkok mentioned “it’ll urgently examine and strengthen security measures to stop comparable incidents from occurring once more.”
“The corporate locations the very best significance on the protection of all vacationers and workers, emphasizing the significance of not getting out of the car whereas visiting the open zoo, particularly within the wild animal zone,” the park mentioned.
Safari World’s web site says “guests can rise up shut and private with wild animals reminiscent of tigers, lions, bears and zebras wandering freely of their pure habitats.” Final month, Safari World introduced the opening of a brand new lion’s den, calling it “a very particular expertise for everybody within the household with the lion feeding exercise.”
Lion possession is authorized in Thailand, the place the captive lion inhabitants has exploded in recent times, with practically 500 registered in zoos, breeding farms, petting cafes and houses.
“Safari World should relocate the lions, who’ve accomplished nothing flawed aside from exhibit their pure behaviors, to a sanctuary,” mentioned animal rights NGO Folks for the Moral Therapy of Animals (PETA) in an announcement Wednesday.
The incident marks no less than the second deadly animal assault at a park in Thailand this 12 months. In January, an elephant killed a Spanish vacationer whereas she was bathing the animal at a sanctuary in southern Thailand.
Deadly lion assaults at zoos are extraordinarily uncommon however this marks the second such incident in lower than a 12 months. Final October, a bunch of lions mauled a zookeeper to loss of life in Crimea after a door inside their enclosure was left unlocked.
In 2018, a lion escaped its enclosure and killed a current school graduate at a North Carolina conservatory throughout a routine cleansing. Authorities had been advised the lion was capable of enter the identical area as 22-year-old Alex Black as a result of a big ball prevented the lion’s pen from closing.
In 2013, a lion killed a 24-year-old volunteer at a Central California animal park after it escaped from a feeding cage and attacked her whereas she was cleansing its enclosure space.
