Rosa King, who has been named as the Hamerton Zoo Park keeper who died on Monday, was a "lovely lady" who was "absolutely passionate" about the animals in her care, a friend said.
The zoo said in a Facebook post that the keeper's death on Monday "appears to have been a freak accident." A full investigation is underway, the zoo said.
"At no point during the incident did any animals escape their enclosures, and at no point was public safety affected in any way," the Facebook post said. "We are sorry but our staff are too distressed to speak directly to the media, as one of our colleagues was killed at Hamerton Zoo Park this morning."
Garry Chisholm, 59, a wildlife photographer in his spare time who knew Ms King through visiting the attraction in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, said the zoo revolved around the keeper.
Mr Chisholm, from Irchester, Northamptonshire, said "Rosa wasn't just a keeper at Hamerton Zoo - she was Hamerton Zoo.
"She was the absolute central point of it, the focal point of it. She was the shining light of it. It revolved around her."
Police were called at 11.15am on Monday to reports of a serious incident at the zoo.
A Magpas air ambulance was on the scene 20 minutes later and visitors were evacuated from the attraction just before midday on Monday.
Witnesses recalled hearing screams and keepers desperately trying to distract tigers with pieces of meat as Bank Holiday visitors were evacuated from the zoo.
A statement from the zoo released on Monday evening said staff were too upset to talk because "one of our colleagues was killed in a freak accident".
The statement gave no more details, but said said at no point had any of the animals escaped and the public had not been in danger.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Did you enjoyed this article ? Feel free to drop your comments