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Tiger gnaws off keeper's arm
01/01/2007 14:41 - (SA)
San Francisco - A 157kg tiger ate most of a zookeeper's right arm in a bloody mauling, according to a witness to the San Francisco Zoo attack that has kept the victim in hospital for more than a week.
The zoo has not released the keeper's name nor the extent of her injuries at her family's request.
But, Vikram Chari, 40, a business owner from San Francisco, told the San Francisco Chronicle he and his six-year-old son saw the December 22 attack from a few meters away.
Chari said: "The tiger ate her hand. It slowly proceeded to eat the rest of her arm."
Three men tried to yank the keeper from the three-year-old female Siberian tiger's grip, but the tiger did not let go until a zoo employee jabbed her in the head with a long pole, he said.
Tiger still on display
"I think most of the right arm doesn't exist anymore," said Chari. "What was left was hanging in strings."
The attack happened as the keeper fed the tiger through a slot during a regular afternoon feeding.
The victim, who has worked at the zoo since 1997, was still in San Francisco General Hospital on Sunday.
The tiger, named Tatiana, was still on display at the zoo's outdoor big-cat exhibit along with lions and other tigers.
The indoor facility where the mauling occurred, called the Lion House, has been closed since the attack.
- SAPA
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