Woman mauled to death by tiger after zookeepers ‘failed to warn her cage door was OPEN’
A YOUNG woman who was mauled to death by a tiger in a safari park enclosure last week was not warned the cage door was open, according to colleagues.
Catalina Torres Ibarra, 21, who has now been identified by Police, was killed in the big cat enclosure in Chile, South America on Friday.
She was allegedly sent to perform cleaning duties before the fatal attack in Rancagua, where she suffered horror neck wounds and died "on the spot."
But, according to her colleague Leonardo Maluenda, she was not told the tiger's cage door was open.
Leonardo told reporters: "The most logical thing is that they tell you to be careful if you go to clean up there because the tiger is loose, but they did not warn her."
A blame game is now believed to have ensued amid an internal investigation into the incident.
Finance manager at the park, Antonio Rojas, claimed that a group of workers had deliberately unlocked the tigers' cage against protocol.
However, the workers in question have vehemently denied the allegations saying that the cage was already open and that they did not open it themselves.
Catalina had been working at the enclosure for over two years, and she occasionally gave guided tours to families.
Promotional photos from the attraction even show lions climbing onto reinforced vehicles.
Most read in News
However, according to the park, none of her duties involved having direct contact with any of the animals.
The safari park continues to remain closed as police investigate claims of possible negligence.
At the time of reporting, the tiger’s condition remains unclear.
