Mauled keeper was a hero

Last updated 05:00 28/05/2009

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Fatal mauling at Zion Wildlife Park

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MAULED: South African zookeeper Dalu Mncube was mauled to death at Whangarei's Zion Wildlife Gardens.

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BIG CAT KEEPER: Dalu Mncube with a white tiger at Zion Park.

White tiger kills keeper

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A keeper mauled to death by a rare white tiger had previously prised the jaws of the same animal from a colleague's mangled leg.

Horrified tourists watched as the tiger pounced on South African Dalu Mncube, the senior cat handler at Zion Wildlife Gardens in Whangarei, about 11am yesterday.

The attack is the third at the park, the home of "Lion Man" Craig Busch, in just over a year.

It has sparked investigations by police, the Labour Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the coroner, while other zoos and keepers have spoken out against the park's intimate style of handling its animals.

The tiger, one of only 120 of the endangered animals in the world, was shot dead by zoo staff moments after the attack and the park has been closed until further notice.

Mr Mncube was preparing to clean a cage with another keeper when the cat leapt at him. Eight tourists, including two children, saw the mauling.

A visitor from Auckland said he had taken two friends from Britain. "It was very, very frightening ... We were all there when it happened. We are all very shaken at the moment."

Mr Mncube's death echoed an attack in February in which fellow keeper Demetri Price was mauled by a white tiger called Abu, believed to be the cat that killed Mr Mncube. When the tiger locked its jaws on Mr Price's knee, Mr Mncube pulled the cat's teeth apart with his hands before blasting it with a fire extinguisher.

Last night, Mr Price praised Mr Mncube as a "very unique man", but criticised the park's management for endangering keepers. "I was no longer willing to take the risk involved with working there."

Last year, a Scottish teenager working at the park was attacked by a lion cub when she put her hands through a fence.

Zion spokesman Glen Holland said staff would be offered counselling. "This is a fantastic person, he is a personal friend and everybody is devastated by it."

The centre would cooperate with the investigations, he said.

MAF oversees zoos and wildlife parks with annual safety audits. Its guidelines for big cats ban direct contact, "unless an animal is hand-reared or suitably conditioned".

Wellington Zoo general manager of operations Mauritz Basson said close handling of big cats was common around the world, but he would never support it at his zoo.

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"They are immensely powerful. You need to be alert and you need to stay alert and that's how you stay alive."

Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Park spokesman Ian Adams said one of the park's "golden rules" was that handlers always kept two locked gates between themselves and the animals."They can be as friendly as and as good as gold, but we never know when it's going to go wrong."

Zion's website includes an advertisement for a tiger walk, where "best of all, you will be able to pat the tiger". Keepers routinely hug and interact with the big cats.

Former keeper Bob Bennett, who was attacked while working at Wellington Zoo in 2006, said Mr Busch "used to take a lot more risks than I would have" with big cats. "He was a great guy, but some of the things he did I wouldn't approve of."

The park is now in an employment battle with Mr Busch, who became famous as the "Lion Man" after a television show. He said Mr Mncube's death was "a terrible personal blow".

MAJESTIC CREATURES

All royal white tigers are a Bengal sub-species and have a double recessive gene that causes their striking colour combination, resulting in cinnamon stripes, blue eyes and pink noses.

It is reported there are only 120 royal white tigers left in the world.

The species has been extinct in the wild since 1958.

At Zion Wildlife Park, the male royal white tigers were Jahdu, Abu and Tygo. Rewa is the sole female. "Each has its own very distinct personality."

Source: Zion Wildlife Park

By TOM FITZSIMONS, MICHAEL FIELD AND DEANNA HARRIS, The Dominion Post