A zookeeper has died from her injuries days after being attacked by a leopard at the Dutch safari park where she worked.
The unnamed employee, who had worked at the Beekse Bergen safari park for almost four decades, was attacked by the animal on Saturday and died on Tuesday.
“It is with great sadness that we must announce that the animal keeper at Beekse Bergen Safari Park died today as a result of injuries she suffered on Saturday October 24 during an incident with a leopard in the park,” the park said in a statement on Tuesday.
“His passing also affects us deeply, and we grieve intensely with his family, friends and loved ones. We ask for peace and privacy for his loved ones and our staff, so that they can process this profound loss,” the statement added.
The woman suffered serious head and neck injuries while working in an enclosure with two male Persian leopards, reported the Associated Press.
The woman contacted her colleagues via walkie-talkie after the incident in the leopard enclosure and an ambulance and trauma helicopter were dispatched around 11 a.m. local time on Saturday, AP added. She underwent emergency surgery but her condition worsened Sunday evening.
The employee returned to the park, located in the south of the Netherlands, when she was 17 and worked there “with short breaks for almost 40 years,” adds the park press release.
CNN affiliate NOS reported that the zookeeper had worked with the leopards for eight years and was working alone in the enclosure with two male Persian leopards when she was attacked.
There are no cameras inside the enclosure, the park told NOS, which also said the animals have been treated normally since the incident.
The park said an independent investigation had been launched into the woman’s death.
Home to over 100 species of animals, Beekse Bergen offers visitors the choice of visiting the safari park on foot, by car, by bus and by boat.
This is not the first time a zoo or safari park staff member has been fatally injured by an animal.
In 2023, a zookeeper was killed in Austria after being attacked by a rhino. The incident, in which another zookeeper was injured, took place at Hellbrunn Zoo in Salzburg. Two years earlier, a woman working at a safari park in Chile was killed by a tiger while working in the big cat enclosure.
CNN’s Rose Roobeek contributed to this report.
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