A zookeeper has died from his injuries days after being attacked by a leopard at the Dutch safari park where he worked.
The unnamed employee, who had worked at the Beekse Bergen Safari Park for almost 40 years, was attacked by the animal on Saturday and died on Tuesday.
“It is with great sadness that we must announce that the animal caretaker of the Beekse Bergen safari park passed away today from injuries sustained in an accident with a leopard inside the safari park on Saturday, October 24,” the park said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Her death has also had a profound impact on all of us, and we grieve deeply alongside her family, friends and loved ones. We ask for peace and privacy to allow her loved ones and our staff to cope with this profound loss,” the statement added.
The woman suffered severe head and neck injuries while working in a cage with two male Persian leopards, according to the Associated Press.
After the incident at the leopard enclosure, the woman contacted colleagues by walkie-talkie, the Associated Press reported, adding that an ambulance and a trauma helicopter were dispatched around 11 a.m. local time on Saturday. She underwent emergency surgery, but her condition worsened on Sunday evening.
The employee joined the park in the southern Netherlands when he was 17 and worked there for “almost 40 years, with short breaks,” the park said in a statement.
The zookeeper, who has been breeding leopards for eight years, was working alone in a cage with two male Persian leopards at the time of the attack, CNN affiliate NOS reported.
The park told NOS there were no cameras in the enclosure and the animals have been treated normally since the incident.
The park announced that an independent investigation has been launched into the woman’s death.
Home to more than 100 species of animals, Beekse Bergen’s safari park can be visited on foot, by car, bus or boat.
This is not the first time zoo or safari park staff have been fatally injured by animals.
In 2023, a zookeeper was killed by a rhinoceros in Austria. Another zookeeper was injured at Salzburg-Hellbrunn Zoo. Two years earlier, a woman working at a safari park in Chile was attacked and killed by a tiger while working in a big cat enclosure.
CNN’s Rose Roobeek contributed to this report.
