A zookeeper in the Netherlands died after she was mauled by a leopard, a rare occurrence in a country with strict rules for handling wild animals.
The woman was attacked by at least one, but possibly two, Persian leopards on Saturday while she was doing her morning rounds at Safaripark Beekse Bergen, said Linda Engels, a spokeswoman for the zoo.
The zookeeper, who was in her late 50s, died from injuries to her head and neck on Tuesday, Ms. Engels said in an interview.
Because of an oncoming storm, the leopards had been brought indoors. It was not clear what happened next, Ms. Engels said, but the zookeeper ended up inside the enclosure, in a breach of protocol.
“Something went wrong,” Ms. Engels said. She added that multiple investigations were underway, including by the Dutch Labor Authority.
The accident has sent shock waves through the zoo industry in the Netherlands as well as the safari park itself.
The woman started her job at the zoo 40 years ago, when she was at 17, the zoo said in a statement. She had worked there continuously but for a few short breaks, the zoo said, and with predators for the last eight years. The zoo did not release the woman’s identity, as is customary in the Netherlands, but added that she was Dutch and lived in Belgium.
She was able to call for help from other zookeepers at the zoo, who tried to provide first aid. “Her death has touched us all deeply,” the zoo said in its statement, calling the accident a “profound loss.”
It was not the first deadly accident at Safaripark Beekse Bergen, which is among the most popular zoos in the country. In 2003, an elephant trampled a 36-year-old who worked there.
Incidents in zoos in which people are injured by big cats are extremely rare in the Netherlands, Wineke Schoo, the director of the Dutch Zoo Federation, said in a phone interview on Wednesday
In zoos around the country, there are a total of up to 200 big cats, she said, adding that wild animals cannot be privately owned there without a zoo permit.
During her 25 years working in the zoo industry, Ms. Schoo said she knew of only one other incident with a big cat in the Netherlands. In 2001, a zookeeper at another Dutch zoo survived an attack by a lion. According to the Dutch news media, an investigation later concluded that it had been the zookeeper’s own fault because he left a door open.
“It’s so terrible what happened here,” Ms. Schoo said on Wednesday. “Everyone is shocked because it happens so rarely.”
Zoos in the Netherlands are subject to strict regulation. But, Ms. Schoo added, accidents can still happen when working with wild animals.
“They’re dangerous animal species,” she said. “It’s not a goat in a petting zoo.”
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