A woman entered an enclosure with three lions to clean it, but did not close the door bar. The predators attacked and killed her, the Investigative Committee said. In 2021, a tiger bit a one-year-old child in the same park.
An employee of Taigan Lion Park in Crimea died after predators attacked and mauled her. A criminal case was opened into the incident.
On the afternoon of October 16, the woman who had worked in the park for almost 17 years entered the enclosure with three lions to clean it. However, she did not close the bolt of the door between the two sections of the cage, and the predators attacked her. The woman died. The case was opened into violation of labor protection requirements that resulted in the death of a person through negligence.
The victim was identified as park manager and director of Skazka Zoo in Yalta, Leokadia Perevalova.
"She was the most experienced employee who knew the biographies of all our lions, tigers and other animals. She trained other employees, instructed them on how to handle predatory animals," Oleg Zubkov, director of the safari park said.
The woman died because she made a mistake, Zubkov said.
"Lions do not forgive mistakes," he said.
According to him, Perevalova had been looking after the predators in the park for more than ten years and "knew everything thoroughly."
The description of the safari park, where the woman died, says that it is the largest lion nursery in Europe. It is home to 60 lions, 40 tigers and hundreds of other animals that live there on an area of more than 30 hectares.
In the fall of 2021, an Amur tiger bit a one-year-old child in the Taigan Park. One of the child's fingers was amputated. Park director Oleg Zubkov was sentenced to two years and three months in prison. However, in October of the same year, the Supreme Court of Crimea overturned the verdict of the Belogorsk District Court and sent the case for a new trial. In May of this year, the owner of the park was sentenced to one year of suspended imprisonment. Zubkov was then freed from punishment due to expiration of the statute of limitations.