Lions maul worker dies as he goes to clean cages at safari park, Crimean officials say

A group of lions mauled to death a zookeeper at one of Europe’s largest national parks on Wednesday after a door inside an enclosure was left unlocked, investigators in Crimea said.

The incident took place in the Taigan safari park on the Crimean peninsula which is part of Russia, which is one of the largest lion breeding grounds in Europe and is home to around 60 predators.

“A criminal case has been opened for the death of an employee of the Taigan lion park as a result of an attack by predators,” said the statement of the Investigative Committee of Crimea and Sevastopol filed in Moscow.

An employee who had worked at the park for nearly 17 years died after he “went to clean a cage with three lions, without closing the door between the two enclosures,” said investigators.

The owner of this park, Oleg Zubkov, identified the victim as zookeeper Leokadia Perevalova, calling the incident a terrible mistake.

“It is not clear how and why this happened as these animals would not have done something like this alone, and it is clear that there were no people,” he said in a statement posted on his website.

“The workers who discovered the body, unfortunately, could not help because it was already torn to pieces,” he said.

On his Telegram channel, Zubkov praised Pervalova as a “precious worker” who was “the soul of our park,” adding that “human forgetfulness played a role.”

“Unfortunately, when I arrived there was nothing I could do to help. (They are) high-level militants and they do not forgive mistakes,” he said.

A criminal case has been opened for the death of a person due to negligence at work, said the investigators.

This 70-acre park was opened to visitors in 2012 on a former military base. According to the park’s website, about 1 kilometer of elevated walkways allow visitors to see lions roaming freely.

Authorities closed the zoo for a month in December 2019 after accusing Zubkov of feeding the animals expired food, allegations he denies.

He accused the Russian-backed Crimean authorities of trying to “sink” his business and deliberately stop his projects after taking power in 2014.

Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014 but is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine.

Attacks by deadly lions in zoos are extremely rare. In 2018, the lion escaped from its enclosure again he killed a recent college graduate at a nursery in North Carolina during routine cleaning. Authorities were told that the lion was able to enter the same area as 22-year-old Alex Black because the ball blocked the lion’s pen from closing.

In 2013, a lion killed a 24-year-old volunteer at a zoo in Central California after it jumped out of a feeding cage and attacked her while she was cleaning its enclosure.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.