Yesterday a zookeeper at Ölands djurpark was killed by an eland when he let the animals on the park’s savanna into the stable for the night. An ostrich should also have been involved in the accident in some way. Link to the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet (in Swedish): Richard blev vittne till olyckan på djurparken
How awful It sounds like the ostrich got spooked in some way, which startled the eland, who then gored the keeper? My heart goes out to the owner, especially, who witnessed the whole thing (but at least they know for sure what happened thanks to him being there).
I agree regarding that turn of events. It's unknown what exactly spooked the Ostrich in the first place. It's good to know though, that the Eland won't be euthanised. It was a terrible, tragic accident.
It seems like the owner might know, but he's so shaken up he couldn't keep telling the story. It's commendable that they aren't euthanizing the animal. Personally I wouldn't want it killed, but wouldn't be able to be around it again.
Whether or not the animal will be euthanised is a discussion that seem to come up every time there’s an attack or a fatality involving a zoo animal. In almost every case I’ve seen, they won’t hesitate to kill the animal if human/public safety is endangered in any way; but if the incident has passed and the animal poses no further danger, it’s typically not euthanised. Personally I support this. While I accept human lives have to come first; euthanising the animal after the incident accomplishes nothing if it can be safety managed as per containment protocols and the injury/fatality was only caused by it acting on instinct.
