Longtime Dutch Zookeeper Dies After Leopard Attack at Safari Park

A zookeeper who spent about 40 years at the Beekse Bergen safari park in the Netherlands has died of injuries from a leopard attack, the park confirmed Tuesday. The BBC and The Independent reported that she was attacked Saturday while working with two Persian leopards. The park said an independent investigation will examine what happened.

The woman’s name has been withheld under Dutch privacy law, The Independent reported.

What happened in the enclosure

The woman suffered serious wounds to her head and neck on Saturday while she was in the leopards’ enclosure, according to both outlets. The BBC said the leopards, which are usually kept away from staff, had been brought indoors because of bad weather, and she was in an indoor facility when the attack occurred.

NL Times, as cited by the BBC, reported that she was able to alert colleagues by walkie-talkie despite her injuries. The Independent said an ambulance and a trauma helicopter were sent to the park, in the southern town of Hilvarenbeek, at about 11 a.m. local time. She underwent emergency surgery, but her condition worsened Sunday evening, and the park said it did not expect her to survive. She died Tuesday.

Exactly what happened is unclear. The BBC reported there are no CCTV cameras inside the enclosure.

The park’s response

The woman began working at Beekse Bergen at 17 and worked there on and off for four decades, the BBC reported. In a statement made together with her family, the park said her death deeply affects everyone there and that its focus is supporting her family and colleagues. It plans a memorial location where guests and staff can leave condolences, the BBC said.

A park spokesperson told the Dutch broadcaster Omroep Brabant that the leopards behaved naturally and will not be euthanized. “They are, and remain, predators,” the spokesperson said, according to the BBC.

Why it matters

The Independent noted that zoo staff are typically not allowed to share a space with predatory animals, and an investigation is underway into why the woman was in the enclosure with the leopards. The BBC described the planned review as independent.

The attack comes at the end of a long career. The Independent reported that the woman joined the park as a teenager and spent nearly all of her four decades there. The two animals involved are male Persian leopards, and the park said they will stay and will not be put down.

What is still unknown

The investigation is meant to establish why the keeper was in the enclosure with the animals at the time, since staff are usually kept apart from predators. With no cameras inside, details of the moments before the attack have not been disclosed.

Around Prague, based on reporting by The Independent, BBC News