I personally don’t see the need to got in with big cats like lions and tiger, especially in the manner it’s done at some facilities, but I don’t think it’s fair to call this girl a “*&@#! Idiot”. Keepers work in with tigers at dreamworld and at Australia zoo, both doing so for 25 and 15 years respectively with only a handful of incidents I can recall. I think if you choose to go in with big cats there needs to be very strict and lengthy protocol involved to prevent an incident like this and zoos can’t become complacent with this. In my opinion, you can’t blame the individual for being attacked because she was working in there going along with park practice, it’s the fault of the park policies and procedures that didn’t do enough to prevent it.
Agreed. As a minimum, she should have been doubled up with a second keeper if working in an exhibit with big cats (direct contact). New Zealand zoos have this policy for working with all dangerous animals (which is all non contact/protected contact). From media reports, it appears she wasn’t working alongside another keeper as they’re reporting she was found by two other workers unconscious in the exhibit.
I thought this may have been the case as it does seem to occur these days in NSW. It is quite disappointing as they have been very strict with this in the past. I do agree that it should be species specific and there are exceptions for binturong. Also, 20kg may seem light until you have a roudy 20kg lion or tiger play fighting with you. It is a hotly debated topic amongst the zoo community which gets very emotional as some people feel very strongly either way. The reasons for contact are only for the keeper, there are no benefits to the animal that outweigh the risks. Maybe this is a discussion for another forum thread?
I've actually met a Binturong that looked like it could (and wanted to) rip your arm off. They get quite big and the nasty ones are pretty scary!
