Tiger mauls zoo employee

Published Jul 30, 2012

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Santiago - A worker at Santiago's Metropolitan Zoo was mauled on Sunday by a white tiger that escaped from its cage and was later shot dead by zoo staff, officials said.

Jose Silva, who has worked at the zoo for 25 years, was rushed to hospital with serious wounds including a grave shoulder injury, local media reported.

The white tiger, known as “Pampa”, attacked Silva for unknown reasons when the zoo worker opened the cage to feed it.

Zoo authorities quickly activated an alert and shot the animal, said director Mauricio Fabre.

“We had to neutralise the specimen with a firearm, and we managed to rescue the worker soon after and rush him to the hospital,” Fabre told radio station Cooperativa.

The zoo said it has opened an internal probe to determine how the tiger got out of its cage.

The tiger had come to the zoo from Argentina seven years ago, officials said. - Sapa-AFP

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