Female Zoo worker mauled to death by TIGER as she fed it in its enclosure

Killed: Keeper Sarah McClay died after being mauled by a tiger at the zoo where she worked

A young zookeeper died last night after being mauled by one of her Sumatran tigers.

Sarah McClay, 24, from the Barrow area in Cumbria, was in the tiger enclosure at a zoo in the Lake District when she was attacked.

Police are investigating whether systems keeping the animals separate from keepers 'failed' at South Lakes Wild Animal Park, Dalton-in-Furness.

But Owner David Gill said it was 'not the park's fault' and that Miss McClay had broken safety protocols by going into the tiger enclosure while the animals were loose.

Ambulance crews said Miss McClay had suffered ‘very traumatic injuries’ to her head and neck and went into cardiac arrest.

She was resuscitated by paramedics and airlifted to Royal Preston Hospital following the attack at around 4pm yesterday, but she later died.

Mr Gill told Sky News that zoo staff had heard a scream over the radio and ran to the scene.

'Within two minutes we had firearms on scene but sadly we just could not get a clean shot to do anything about it because of exactly where the animal was, so we did our best, we moved around to find a shot,' he said.

'Very, very quickly I let off two shots to frighten the animals and it did what it needed to do which was to lift them off and they ran back into the house and other keepers locked them up.

'Once we knew we were secure and safe we went into the enclosure to retrieve Sarah.'

Visitors were asked to leave the wildlife park yesterday before it closed early. It has reopened today.

Police and Barrow Borough Council are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Today officers issued a statement saying: 'Sarah fell victim to an attack by a Sumatran tiger whilst, police believe, going about her routine duties in the big cat enclosure building.

'The enclosure concerned consists of a number of compartments both indoor and outdoor connected by lockable doors. Keepers are required to enter various parts enclosures in the course of their routine duties.

'However, systems are in place to ensure that animals and keepers remain apart at all times. At some stage this has failed and the animal and Sarah came together with tragic consequences. The police are working to establish whether this was a result of human or technical factors.'

Police are not treating the death as a criminal investigation but said they were keeping 'an open mind' about what caused the tragedy.

Mr Gill said Miss McClay had worked at the wildlife park for a number of years and was ‘very proficient’ in her work with big cats.

He told BBC Radio 5 Live yesterday: ‘After investigation by the authorities here and the police, it does seem that she just basically failed to follow the correct procedures.

'Not the park's fault': Owner David Gill said neither the zoo or the tiger was to blame for the death of keeper Sarah McClay

‘For some unknown reason, an inexplicable reason, because there is no reason for why she did it, she opened the door and went into the tiger enclosure and straight into the tigers, and now we'll never know why.’

He said that it was against strict safety protocols to walk into the tiger's cage, adding that the zoo had passed a major inspection on Monday, in which it was praised for its safety standards.

The incident happened at about 4pm, when staff were working as normal and the park was open to the public.

Mr Gill told the BBC: ‘An emergency call went out over the radio and we responded immediately. I was on the scene within 30 seconds.

One of the park's tigers is pictured

‘It was just unfortunate that everything happened so quick. It's so difficult to talk about because it was so upsetting.

‘We moved all the public back of course. I think one member of the public did witness a part of the attack but I don't think there was anyone else who saw that.’

Emphasizing that at no point was there any threat to the public, he said: ‘It just seems quite inexplicable. None of us have been able to come up with a really reasonable conclusion.

‘All we know is that no one else was involved, there was nobody with her, and for some unknown reason she opened a door and walked straight into the tigers.’

Mr Gill described Miss McClay as ‘a very passionate girl, very enthusiastic’ who was ‘extremely good at delivering conservation talks. A very valued part of our team. A very bubbly character, a very happy girl.’

He said that Miss McClay's death was the second tragedy for the park this month, after another employee was killed in a road accident.

Police said Miss McClay's family were ‘very shocked and distressed’ and had requested privacy to grieve.

A spokesman for North West Ambulance Service said paramedics were on the scene within nine minutes.

‘We sent an ambulance and helicopter and she was air lifted to hospital in Preston. She was extremely ill, the spokesman said.

‘They were very traumatic injuries. She was very badly mauled. She went into cardiac arrest at the scene.

‘The crews performed CPR on her and managed to bring her back so that she could be flown by helicopter.

‘The crews who were there were offered counselling afterwards, as is standard procedure with this kind of incident.’

Culled from DAILY MAIL