Just weeks after a man was mauled to death after entering the tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in England, two new serious incidents in enclosures are making headlines.
The first was another wild cat attack. A zookeeper at the Beekse Bergen safari park in the Netherlands, who had worked there for decades after starting at age 17, was caring for two male Persian leopards in an indoor enclosure when an attack left her with head and neck injuries. She underwent emergency surgery but died on Tuesday, the safari park said in a statement.
There are no cameras in the enclosure, and while the statement provided no details on the attack, it did say an independent investigation will be launched.
CBS News reports that the leopards were behaving naturally, according to a park spokesperson who spoke to local media outlet Omroep Brabant. The spokesperson said the obvious, which could be the theme of the “Predator Watch” series: “They are, and remain, predators.”
Beekse Bergen’s website describes how leopards, also known as panthers, hunt: “Once the panther has found prey, it quietly stalks it to about three to 10 meters away. Then it jumps on top of it and breaks the prey’s neck. Then it take its prey into a tree and eats it.”
Zoo staff are not usually allowed in the same enclosure as the leopards, which may explain why the park’s spokesperson seemed confused in a statement to Nieuwsblad, as reported by People: “Something went wrong there, but we do not yet know what. There are no cameras in the enclosure and she was working alone."
Local news outlets said the victim was heard screaming for help over a walkie-talkie, which is reminiscent of the 2016 death of Stacey Konwiser, who was killed by a 350-pound Malayan tiger at the Palm Beach Zoo. As I wrote in the last “Predator Watch” column, Konwiser screamed for help into her radio after she was attacked.
Related: Can You Identify the Mystery Animal Attacking a Man in This Video?
The other incident this week took place at a wildlife park in Germany on Wednesday. A wolf attacked an 8-year-old girl while she was in an enclosure at Johannismühle Wildlife Park with two other children and a member of the park’s staff.
The girl, who was the only one injured, was seriously hurt and taken by air ambulance to a hospital for treatment, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported. The Sun described how serious those injuries were, saying she is in critical condition with severe head injuries and is fighting for her life.
My son just won some tickets to the Santa Barbara Zoo, which we haven’t visited in a long time, and we are looking forward to visiting it again. The last thing you think about when taking a family outing to a zoo or animal park is the possibility that your child will be severely injured or even killed by one of the animals.
Perhaps the most horrific story in recent memory is the death of 2-year-old Maddox Derkosh at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium in 2012, after he fell into an exhibit of endangered African dogs. He fell from a wooden railing and was then mauled by African painted dogs.
The Derkoshes sued the zoo in May 2013; the zoo countered in September by arguing the mother was to blame for lifting him atop the railing. The parents eventually settled with the zoo. CBS reported on the fight over negligence:
"The injuries and damages sustained by Maddox Derkosh, including Maddox Derkosh's death, were caused solely by the carelessness, negligence, and/or recklessness of Elizabeth Derkosh," the zoo's attorney wrote in the court filing. She "knew or should have known he could fall into the exhibit" and failed "to maintain a proper grasp of Maddox Derkosh after lifting him over the railing."
The parents' attorney, Robert Mongeluzzi, said then that the zoo "failed miserably in their solemn responsibility to prevent the attack" and "shamelessly attacked Maddox's grieving mother."
In October, Mongeluzzi filed a counterclaim on behalf of Elizabeth Derkosh, which included excerpts from the minutes of several of the zoo's safety committee meetings since August 2006.
The first excerpt says, "Wild dog exhibit has one side of the exhibit that is open and a visitor was seen dangling a child over the exhibit through the opening." According to the court filing, similar observations were brought to the safety committee's attention on four more occasions by July 2007 - including one that said, "Guest are dangling children over the railing at the Wild Dogs exhibit" - but Mongeluzzi contends the exhibit still was not changed until after Maddox was killed.
Returning to this week’s wolf attack on the 8-year-old girl: it is not clear why the children were in the enclosure, or whether anyone’s negligence played a role. The German newspaper Bild reports (translated via Claude): “The park has special programs in which visitors can take part as zookeepers. Children can visit their favorite animal. The homepage says: ‘Together with a zookeeper, you can visit the animal of your choice exclusively, away from the crowds and with exciting first-hand insights. Maybe you’d like to feed wolves...’”
I'd definitely pass on that opportunity.
