Yearly Maulings Killings And Escapes By Big Cats

2015

Oct 3, 2015 Bahalwpur Zoo: A zookeeper identified as Fayyaz was badly injured when two lions attacked him after he entered the lion enclosure. The incident happened when the zookeeper reportedly entered the enclosure to shift the cubs to another room.

Sept 19, 2015 New Zealand: The woman killed by a male tiger named Oz at Hamilton Zoo today was senior staff member, Samantha Kudeweh, age 43 who held the job title of Zoo Curator. She had over 20 years experience in the field. Before joining the team in Hamilton, she had spent eight years at Auckland Zoo and two years at Melbourne and Werribee Zoo’s. Before working in zoo, she completed a BSc at Auckland University.

Sept 16, 2015 Warsaw, Poland: A police spokesman says a tiger has fatally wounded a keeper at a zoo in Wroclaw, southwestern Poland. Rynkiewicz said the rare Sumatran tiger attacked the man during routine cleaning of the animal’s run. Prosecutors are investigating the accident. TVN24 said the man had 20 years of experience in taking care of predators at the zoo.

Sept 8, 2015 Suzhuo, China: A lioness was hit by a car and then shot 20 times by police after escaping a local circus.

Sept 6, 2015 Indianapolis, IN: The Indianapolis Zoo issued a Code Red after a cheetah escaped from its enclosure. The cheetah somehow got onto the “beaver bridge” and managed to escape its enclosure. Zoo officials said the cheetah was one of two new brothers that came to the zoo from San Diego a week ago.

Sept 4, 2015 Hemet, CA: A 3 month old tiger was found wandering the streets of Hemet, CA before being turned in to the Ramona Humane Society for care. The 25-pound cub was found declawed and will need surgery to remove a hernia from his abdomen. It has been illegal to declaw big cats in the U.S. since 2006. He has been sent to Lions, Tigers & Bears in Alpine, CA.

Aug 17, 2015 Detroit, MI: Animals of Montana brought an adult tiger, bobcats and wolves to the abandoned Packard Plant for a photo shoot. When the tiger escaped handlers instructed the film crew to chase it downstairs using a weedwhacker and a tarp. City officials claimed they had no idea that wild animals would be brought to the site, much less set free.

Aug 14, 2015 Morganton, NC: Tyra, a Serval, went missing in the White Street/Valdese Avenue area of Morganton. Owner Jon Freed is afraid someone will mistake his 45-pound cat for a cheetah. Freed recently moved from Fort Mill, South Carolina, to Morganton, NC. Tyra escaped from Freed’s screened-in porch. This is yet one more reason why we need a federal ban on exotic cat possession.

Jun 14, 2015 Georgia Russia: Tigers, lions, a hippopotamus and other animals escaped from the zoo in Georgia’s capital after heavy flooding destroyed their enclosures, prompting authorities to warn residents in Tbilisi to say inside Sunday. At least 12 people have been killed in the disaster, including three zoo workers. One lost his arm to a tiger last month.

Jun 1, 2015 Johannesburg, SA: Katherine Chappell, 29, a visual effects artist for Game of Thrones, was killed and her tour guide seriously injured in an attack by a lioness at the Lion Park near Lanseria. The two people were travelling in the car with their windows open. It’s understood a lioness jumped through the open window, biting the woman who was in the passenger seat. The driver, a tour guide, was badly injured while attempting to free the woman from the animal’s grasp. The park’s Scott Simpson said, “There was a car driving to the lion camp and the lioness came through the window and it bit the tourist. The ambulance arrived quite soon but the lady has passed away.” Three months ago an Australian tourist was bitten in the thigh while driving though the park, also with his window down.

Jun 2, 2015 Alor Gajah, Malaysia: The body of the 38-year-old animal keeper named Herman who was mauled to death by a tiger at a popular resort has been sent back to his country of origin. District police chief Superintendent Muhammad Ismail Muhammad Yusof said “In classifying the case as sudden death we have closed the case and the victim, who was single, has been sent back to Indonesia.” He went on to say, “It could be that the caretaker had taken his relationship with the tiger for granted since he had been handling the tiger for the past eight years, including bathing and feeding it.”

May 27, 2015 Russia: Doctors had to amputate one arm on a woman who was attacked by a tiger in Tbilisi Zoo. The victim, Guliko Chitadze, is a 25 year veteran of the zoo. She was in the caretaker area at the time of the incident, while the tiger was inside the cage. She was taken to the hospital and according to the doctors she is in a serious condition, and her legs may have to be amputated. Tbilisi Zoo was opened in 1927 and currently holds 300 species of animals, including white tiger, white lion, African wild dogs, elephants and penguins. There are also fishes and reptiles. (The very fact that they are exhibiting white tigers and white lions would seem to indicate they are just a roadside zoo.

May 24, 2015 Tiger Temple, Thailand: The abbot of the province’s renowned “Tiger Temple” is in hospital after he was mauled by one of the scores of tigers that have made the monastery world famous. The monk said he was walking Hern Fa, a male Bengal tiger aged about seven or eight, on the temple’s ground. The abbot had raised the tiger from a young age and loved it very much. Suddenly Hern Fa attacked the 64 year old monk. It mauled his face and shoulder. The Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) first announced the seizure of 10 tigers kept at the temple about a decade ago because the temple had no permit to keep them. However, officials then asked the temple to help take care of the animals instead of taking them back. Department chief Nipon Chotiban said he did not know why the authorities wanted the temple to take care of the tigers. The number of tigers has since increased from 10 to 146. The department recently wanted the temple to hand them over, saying it had no permits to keep them. But Luangta Chan and his disciples are fiercely opposed to the removal of the tigers and other wildlife from the temple. The 146 tigers and their future offspring are state property and could remain at the temple on the condition that it must seek a legal permit to operate a zoo. The temple must not exploit the tigers and use legal ways to generate income to feed the animals.

May 17, 2015 China: A lion was shot dead after it killed one of its keepers and escaped at the Taian Tiger Mountain Park in Shandong. Authorities said the 65-year-old keeper was cleaning the enclosure when the lion bit him on his shoulders and neck. He died later from his injuries. The lion was on the loose in the zoo for more than an hour before it was shot dead by police. The spokesman said they cornered the lion by a wall within the zoo grounds, and shot it dead to “ensure the safety of park visitors”.

Apr 30, 2015 OKC, OK: A 4-year-old Sumatran tiger named Lola got out of her enclosure at the Oklahoma City Zoo. Officials said they issued a “Code Red,” alerting zoo staff to the situation. In a statement, they said: “In keeping with the Zoo’s safety protocol, the public was ushered out of the Cat Forest area and Zoo-wide announcements were made to inform guests of the situation. The veterinary team immobilized the animal at approximately 2:02 p.m. to extricate her from the space between the exhibits and transport her to the tiger holding building. The veterinary staff is monitoring her condition and she continues to recover well from the immobilization. The emergency alert was cleared by 2:25 p.m. and the Zoo resumed normal operations.” Visitors to the zoo told CBS “We ran, we were weren’t really thinking about anything, we were just going, we were just running out. It was just pretty – pretty intense,” said Dean Smith.

Apr 29, 2015 London, England: A man was mauled to death by lions after jumping into the lions’ enclosure at the East London zoo. Buffalo City Metro spokesman Thandy Matebese said “According to the CCTV footage‚ the man entered the zoo this morning at around 9am. He paid the entrance fee and proceeded into the zoo premises. He was alone and did not display any signs of being emotional or distressed. We suspect that he used the corner of the security wall and the fence of the lion’s enclosure to climb up and jumped over the fence. His corpse was discovered around 10am when it was time to feed the lions.”

Apr 15, 2015 Seattle, WA: A 6-month-old lion cub walked out of its exhibit through an open door April 15, the same day handlers moved elephants Bamboo and Chai to the Oklahoma City Zoo. The cub roamed the service area in the feline building for about an hour before being returned to his exhibit. The escape fuels the ongoing legal battle surrounding the elephants. It was used as evidence of a pattern of unsafe handling in a complaint filed Monday by a group that wants Bamboo and Chai moved to a sanctuary instead of another zoo.

Apr 1, 2015 Lion Park, South Africa: Only two days after an Australian tourist was bitten by a lion at the Lion Park in Honeydew, Joburg, a 13-year-old boy was attacked by a cheetah. The boy who lives in an informal settlement close by, had been riding his bicycle when the incident happened. Park manager, Scott Simpson said that the boy had cut through a wire fence and took a short cut through the park. Two game guides rushed to assist him, but the cheetah managed to bite him twice before they reached him. Even though cheetahs are known to be the most docile of the big cats, often found in petting pens at wildlife experience centres, their natural instincts to chase after moving prey may kick in in these sorts of situations. Two days before this incident, Brendan Smith from Australia had been attacked by a lion. He had opened his window while driving through the Lion Park.

Mar 27, 2015 China, Yichun city, Jiangxi: A zookeeper, named Gong, was attacked by a tiger at the zoo. Employees rushed to drive the tiger away and injected it with anesthetic, while paramedics carried out the badly mauled body. Despite immediate medical treatment, the keeper was later pronounced dead. Reports from the scene indicate that after the tiger was fed that morning, someone at the zoo forgot to close the door separating the enclosure from the feeding area.

Mar 9, 2015 India, Bannerghata National Park: With more than 50 bite wounds and scratches, doctors are keeping a close watch on the animal keeper, who continued to remain critical a day after he was mauled by a lion. Krishna (38) was with four others in the holding house at the lion safari when the big cat slipped through an open squeeze cage and pounced on him. “He has at least 20 deep wounds, and nearly 40 scratches. The surgery on the deep wounds is scheduled for Thursday. As it is an animal bite, there is a high chance of infection that can spread to the muscles causing gangrene,” said A.N. Venkatesh, Head of the Department of Emergency at Apollo Hospitals on Bannerghata Road. Nakula (4), the 200-kg lion that had attacked his keeper continued to remain in its pride of ten.

Feb 15, 2015 Monterey: A stunned Miguel Martinez, 32, got home from work and discovered a lion in his front yard, trying to get into his house with his young daughter. He saw the big cat lying under a bush outside his front door as he pulled into his driveway, assuming it was a toy – until it started growling. Fearing his children would be attacked, Mr Martinez sat in his Audi and called police, who arrived and humanely trapped the seven-month old beast. A 19-year-old pregnant neighbour, Maria Fernanda Martinez, who had named him Simba after receiving him as a gift for getting pregnant.

Feb. 12, 2015 Seoul, South Korea: An zoo keeper died after apparently being attacked by two lions at a zoo in South Korea’s capital, officials said. A colleague found the keeper, 52-year-old Kim Geun-bae, unconscious and bleeding heavily from his neck and legs in the animals’ enclosure, as a male and female lion wandered near him, according to Seoul Children’s Grand Park official Jisun Lee. Kim was pronounced dead at a hospital about two hours later, she said. There were no witnesses or visitors at the time of the attack because the zoo has been closed since last week to prevent the spread of avian flu, Lee said. The park said Kim had 20 years’ experience as an animal keeper and had been working with dangerous animals such as lions, tigers and leopards for the past three years.

Feb. 9, 2015 Egypt: Faten El-Helw was in the middle of her routine, dancing and waving to the crowds during the circus performance in Egypt, when the lion attacked. The crowd of adults and children can be heard screaming and the music stops as her fellow performers rush to her rescue. El-Helw comes from a long line of lion tamers – many of whom have suffered similar attacks. Her late husband Ibrahim reportedly died from his injuries after being attacked by a lion in 2004, while relative Mohamed El-Helw was mauled and died during the 1980s.

Feb. 2015 Johannesburg, SA: ‘I’m 15 years old and have survived mauling by lions in a cage which was opened by the ranger,’ Neha Sharma wrote. ‘The lions were as tall as me and attacked my head… I could hear lions teeth crunching on my head and biting my arms and chest. While I was passing out I could hear mum and dad screaming for help.’ Dr Sharma recalled ‘My wife and I were yelling, kept asking the Park Ranger to help Neha but he remained on the ground. He just left my daughter and didn’t move once. So I thought he was dead.’ Dr Sharma said he could hear his daughter screaming out for him as he watched the lion bite her head, arms and legs. Neha then became unconscious when the lion bit her on her chest. ‘I felt so helpless. That moment felt like hell to me. No one was around to help and I thought I was going to be left with nothing,’ Dr Sharma said. ‘So at that point, I remember thinking that I had to fight the lion myself knowing that I was going to die. I knew if I went in, I would be killed but that would be better than watching my daughter get eaten alive.’ But Neha extraordinarily regained consciousness at that moment, stood up and ran straight towards the cage gate where her father opened it and let her out.