Keeper mauled to death by tiger ‘doing dream job’

A WOMAN mauled to death by a tiger at the wildlife park where she worked was doing her “dream job”, her mother has told an inquest.

A tiger similar to the killer. Picture: Getty

Sarah McClay, 24, suffered multiple injuries when she was attacked at South Lakes Wild Animal Park in Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, in May last year.

Miss McClay, who was born in Glasgow and lived in Barrow-in-Furness, was engaged in her routine duties in the big cat enclosure when she was attacked by a male Sumatran tiger.

Police said at the time of her death that the enclosure concerned consisted of a number of indoor and outdoor compartments connected by lockable doors.

Keepers were required to enter various parts of the enclosure in the course of their routine duties.

However, systems were said to be in place to ensure that animals and keepers remained apart at all times.

Speaking on the first day of the inquest, being held in front of a jury, Fiona McClay, from Linlithgow, West Lothian, told the hearing in Kendal her daughter was “a meticulous person to the extreme”.

She said Miss McClay had worked as an animal carer at the park for about three years.

South Cumbria Coroner Ian Smith asked what her daughter’s attitude was to her occupation.

Mrs McClay replied: “It was a dream job – I would say ever since she had visited the park as a child.”

Asked by Mr Smith about her personality, Mrs McClay said: “She was a meticulous person to the extreme. She would never just do something. She always wanted to do it a little bit better. She would discuss things and she would be never critical of anyone else and would listen to their point of view.”

Speaking about calls for the tiger to be killed, Mrs McClay said: “That is absolutely 100 per cent not what Sarah would not have wanted. She would not have blamed the tiger for anything what had happened.”

A post-mortem examination showed among Miss McClay’s unsurvivable injuries were deep puncture wounds to the neck, the back of her body, both arms and her left foot. There was crushing to the spine in the neck, along with fractured ribs.

Bruising and abrasions to her head and back were consistent with her being dragged along the ground, the inquest heard.

To aid the jury, a scale model of the tiger house has been made. Within the enclosure was a light den and a dark den for the tigers, and a keeper’s corridor.

Owen Broadhead, a senior environmental health officer, told the inquest that a bolt on the top of the dark den door, which opened on to the keeper’s corridor, was defective.

He said: “When the bolt tried to close into the frame (of the door) it would bang against the frame which left a gap of 20 to 25 millimetres.”

He agreed with lawyer David Rogers, representing the wildlife park, that he could not say when the damage had occurred.

The inquest continues.