Tiger kills zoo keeper after gate left open

Published on 26/08/2012 02:03

GERMANY: A tiger escaped from its enclosure at Cologne Zoo in western Germany yesterday and killed a female keeper before being shot dead by the zoo’s director.

The tiger managed to get into an adjacent storage building, where it then attacked the 43-year-old keeper, said police spokesman Stefan Kirchner.

“It appears the gate wasn’t properly shut,” Kirchner said.

The zoo’s director used a rifle to shoot the animal dead through the storage building’s skylight before it could enter the visitor areas.

A window was reported to be open in the building, which could have allowed the tiger to get out.

Kirchner said it was unlikely that members of the public had witnessed the incident, which took place at around noon local time.

“This is the darkest day of my life,” zoo director Theo Pagel told Cologne newspaper Express, which added that the tiger was a male called Altai.

A planned late-night opening of the zoo has been cancelled.