Lions!
Zookeeper mauled by lions
Mr. Bennett is going to make a recovery and the lions aren't being destroyed, so both counts I see as being positive. However, the one part of this story I find as odd is this part:
Bob Bennett, 54, had just finished putting food out and cleaning a lion enclosure at Wellington Zoo when the two-year-old African lions - Malik and Zulu - passed through an open gate and attacked him yesterday.
Now, I don't know about you, but if I'm working in a lion enclosure I would make damn sure that, oh, I dunno, the gates separating the lions from me were locked. But that's just me.
Zookeeper mauled by lions
WEDNESDAY, 11 JANUARY 2006
By CHALPAT SONTI
A Wellington zookeeper mauled by two lions feared he was going to die.
Bob Bennett, 54, had just finished putting food out and cleaning a lion enclosure at Wellington Zoo when the two-year-old African lions - Malik and Zulu - passed through an open gate and attacked him yesterday.
Mr Bennett was alone in the enclosure at the time - as horrified members of the public watched - but zoo staff heard his cries for help and rushed to pull the lions off him. He then scrambled to safety.
Witnesses said the lions first went for the food buckets Mr Bennett had in his hands before pouncing on him. He suffered several puncture wounds in his neck and chest but was in a stable condition in Wellington Hospital last night.
The British-born, 19-year veteran of the zoo's African animals team thought it was all over. "I feel absolutely brilliant, a bit sore but as well as can be expected under the circumstances," he said afterward.
Mr Bennett was able to walk to an ambulance with help from paramedics.
Zoo chief executive Alison Lash said staff immediately closed off the enclosure after the incident.
Ambulance officers called police, who attended with guns, but they were not needed.
Ms Lash would not speculate on the incident till after she had spoken with Mr Bennett. "Theoretically" the attack should not have happened, had the zoo's "very strict" safety procedures for working with dangerous animals been followed.
"Really he is remarkably lucky and we are all incredibly relieved," she said.
"Zoos by their nature have dangerous animals in them and there is an inherent risk factor. People work alongside these animals every day and don't get blase, but something like this is still a shock."
There had been a second zookeeper in the den shortly before the incident, who had been training the lions.
The public was "in no way" in danger during the incident, Ms Lash said. "It (the lions' den) was always contained and secure."
It was the first attack on humans by animals at the zoo since February 2003, when a mental patient was mauled by a tiger. The man had absconded from Wellington Hospital's psychiatric unit and scaled a 4.5-metre-high fence. He survived after undergoing an 8½-hour operation.
Ms Lash said the zoo would conduct its own inquiry into the latest incident, to try to improve safety and see whether anything could have been done better by staff.
Several witnesses had been interviewed, but she appealed for others to come forward. Staff and witnesses had been offered counselling.
Mr. Bennett is going to make a recovery and the lions aren't being destroyed, so both counts I see as being positive. However, the one part of this story I find as odd is this part:
Bob Bennett, 54, had just finished putting food out and cleaning a lion enclosure at Wellington Zoo when the two-year-old African lions - Malik and Zulu - passed through an open gate and attacked him yesterday.
Now, I don't know about you, but if I'm working in a lion enclosure I would make damn sure that, oh, I dunno, the gates separating the lions from me were locked. But that's just me.
Zookeeper mauled by lions
WEDNESDAY, 11 JANUARY 2006
By CHALPAT SONTI
A Wellington zookeeper mauled by two lions feared he was going to die.
Bob Bennett, 54, had just finished putting food out and cleaning a lion enclosure at Wellington Zoo when the two-year-old African lions - Malik and Zulu - passed through an open gate and attacked him yesterday.
Mr Bennett was alone in the enclosure at the time - as horrified members of the public watched - but zoo staff heard his cries for help and rushed to pull the lions off him. He then scrambled to safety.
Witnesses said the lions first went for the food buckets Mr Bennett had in his hands before pouncing on him. He suffered several puncture wounds in his neck and chest but was in a stable condition in Wellington Hospital last night.
The British-born, 19-year veteran of the zoo's African animals team thought it was all over. "I feel absolutely brilliant, a bit sore but as well as can be expected under the circumstances," he said afterward.
Mr Bennett was able to walk to an ambulance with help from paramedics.
Zoo chief executive Alison Lash said staff immediately closed off the enclosure after the incident.
Ambulance officers called police, who attended with guns, but they were not needed.
Ms Lash would not speculate on the incident till after she had spoken with Mr Bennett. "Theoretically" the attack should not have happened, had the zoo's "very strict" safety procedures for working with dangerous animals been followed.
"Really he is remarkably lucky and we are all incredibly relieved," she said.
"Zoos by their nature have dangerous animals in them and there is an inherent risk factor. People work alongside these animals every day and don't get blase, but something like this is still a shock."
There had been a second zookeeper in the den shortly before the incident, who had been training the lions.
The public was "in no way" in danger during the incident, Ms Lash said. "It (the lions' den) was always contained and secure."
It was the first attack on humans by animals at the zoo since February 2003, when a mental patient was mauled by a tiger. The man had absconded from Wellington Hospital's psychiatric unit and scaled a 4.5-metre-high fence. He survived after undergoing an 8½-hour operation.
Ms Lash said the zoo would conduct its own inquiry into the latest incident, to try to improve safety and see whether anything could have been done better by staff.
Several witnesses had been interviewed, but she appealed for others to come forward. Staff and witnesses had been offered counselling.