According to the zoo, there was no danger to zoo visitors at any time, as the tiger had not been able to leave its indoor enclosure. The site of the accident was not visible to visitors. The police now want to clarify the exact course of the accident: they have initiated a death investigation, they announced.
The accident occurred on saturday afternoon during cleaning work. According to initial findings, the keeper probably forgot to lock up the male tiger, the zoo said. Presumably the tiger had attacked them from behind. After the deadly bite "altai" had let go of his victim. According to police, the animal attacked the keeper in a commercial building adjacent to the enclosure, which is inaccessible to visitors.
The dead woman is an experienced animal keeper. As a district keeper, she had extensive and longstanding experience in dealing with predators. "We cannot explain at this time why the experienced keeper was able to make such a treacherous mistake," pagel said. She had been in a place where she was not allowed to be "when the animal is inside".
Police investigation into the accident continued on sunday. It is necessary to clarify the course of the attack as accurately as possible, said a police spokesman. For this purpose, all traces were to be secured in the tiger house and witnesses of the tragedy were to be questioned. The first results are expected by monday at the earliest. Occupational health and safety investigations may also have been initiated.
A colleague found the 43-year-old lifeless in the tiger’s inner enclosure. After she raised the alarm, the police and fire department arrived with large-scale operations and love to clear the zoo. Also a helicopter was requested as a precaution.
Pagel was not at the zoo during the accident, but arrived in time to shoot the tiger from a roof with a large caliber rifle on the instructions of the incident commander. "We are prepared for such cases," he said. "The tiger was killed immediately. We then went in and took the employee to the emergency room, but unfortunately it was too late."
In the 2011 annual report, pagel had still written enthusiastically about his amur tigers, as the siberian tigers are also known. It was only in the spring of 2011 that female "hanya" and male "altai" arrived in colonia from france and great britain as part of the european conservation breeding program (ep).
"It was love at first sight," pagel wrote. "Already after relatively short time we could let the animals together." At the beginning of november, the female threw four cubs. One died after a few days, the others did well. They were called "jegor", "mila" and "finja. At the beginning of february they were in the aubenanlage for the first time.
The animal protection organizations peta and vier pfoten criticized the keeping of wild animals in zoos on the occasion of the cologne case and criticized, among other things, the "far too small enclosures.
Founded in 1860, the koln zoo is one of the oldest in germany. It is home to around 10,000 animals of 750 different species. In the spring of 2012, a cheetah jumped over the bars of its enclosure into the flamingo enclosure. But he was quickly brought back by zoo staff.
The zoo was normally open to visitors on sunday. Even the tiger enclosure was not closed off. But a festive event on saturday evening had been cancelled. Further information would not give the zoo on sunday.