Tigers are the almost always the apex predators of whatever environment they find themselves in.
Whether it be the lush jungles of India, or the bitterly cold heights of Russia’s Sikhote-Alin Mountains, tigers, like almost all animals, were born to roam free.
This makes zoos exceedingly difficult places to safely keep them. No matter how much room they are given, an enclosure is an enclosure – they are forced to take on behaviours entirely unnatural to them, including being active during the day and waiting for their food to be delivered to them.
It’s no wonder that so many tigers kept in zoos lash out at their keepers, as this Russian zookeeper was unlucky enough to learn.
The unnamed female keeper at the zoo, in the heart of Kaliningrad Zoo, Kaliningrad, was horrifically mauled by the big cat, Typhoon, after it sprang on her when the opportunity, an accidentally unlatched gate, presented itself.
As the keeper fetched the predator’s food, Typhoon pounced on her.
The savage animal was described by sources at the time of the attack in 2017 as ‘aggressive and ‘bad-tempered’, though a source said: ‘Typhoon has never before shown any aggression to zoo staff.’
This brought little comfort to the zookeeper, with alarming pictures show the woman on her back on the ground with the tiger on top of her, seemingly about to go in for the kill.
A female zookeeper in Russia is lucky to be alive after she was badly mauled by a male tiger while taking it food. Part of the animal’s cage was accidentally left open, allowing it to attack
Horrified visitors watched as Typhoon dragged the woman to the ground and began attacking her
Guests managed to distract the big cat by throwing stones, stick, and a table and bench from a nearby cafe into the enclosure, allowing the keeper to escape
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