A keeper at Shanghai zoo was mauled to death by a rare tiger after they entered its enclosure to clean it, officials confirmed today.
According to state media, the victim was a 56-year-old man with the surname Zhou.
Colleagues of the man said he went into the nine-year-old male south China tiger's enclosure and 'did not come out again'.
Tragedy: A keeper at the Shanghai Zoo was mauled to death by this rare South China tiger after entering its enclosure, pictured, to clean
Chinese workers carry the body of the 56-year-old keeper named Zhou after he was killed by a South China Tiger at the breeding centre of Shanghai Zoo
In brief statements on the zoo and Municipal Landscaping Administration said investigators were looking into the cause of the attack.
The administration added that the tiger no prior record of aggression against people. It said the attack occurred at the zoo’s breeding facility where safety procedures are in place.
The highly endangered South China tiger is considered effectively extinct in the wild after decades of being hunted as a pest.
Only a few are kept in zoos.
The species was native to the provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi in southern China, and has been classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since 1996.
Investigation: It is not known why the South China Tiger, pictured in its encolsure, attacked the keeper
Very few, if any, are thought to be still living in the wild.
In the late nineties when it was classified by the IUCN, survival in the wild was considered unlikely due to low prey density, widespread habitat degradation and fragmentation, and other human pressures.
A wild South China tiger has not bee spotted since the early 1970s.
Built on a former golf course, Shanghai’s zoo is one of China’s largest and most popular urban animal parks.
The zoo is home to more than 6,000 animals, among which are 600 Chinese animals that include the giant panda, great hornbills and Bactrian camels.
Animals from other parts of the world include the chimpanzee, giraffe and polar bear
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2525402/Zookeeper-mauled-death-rare-tiger-cleaned-enclosure-Shanghai-animal-park.html#ixzz2npKwbYEH
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