Two tigers were shot dead on Tuesday after escaping from their cage at a tourist attraction in China. The tigers belonged to a circus that had rented them out to the Danjiang Peacock Valley for shows, Xinhua news agency said.
A staff member was feeding the two big cats when they attacked him and escaped. The man was taken to the hospital but died of his injuries.
Guests and staff at the area were evacuated as authorities looked for the tigers. They tried to lure them with chicken meat laced with sedatives, but that didn’t work. They tried to shoot them with tranquillizer guns, but that also didn’t work.
Authorities then decided to kill the animals. They were shot dead on Tuesday afternoon.
The problems with the lack of safety and horrible animal welfare in Chinese zoos and safari parks went viral after three leopards escaped from Hangzhou Safari Park.
The leopards escaped on April 19, but the Hangzhou Safari Park hid the breakout for nearly three weeks to avoid bad publicity, police in the city have said. Careless cage-cleaners blamed for letting them out.
Two of the leopards have been recaptured. But so far, authorities have made no announcements about the whereabouts of the third leopard.
Cases of dangerous zoo animals escaping and injuring or killing people happen regularly in China.
On Sunday, a staff member at the Zhanggongshan Zoo in eastern Anhui province was killed by a tiger when he entered his cage without first making sure the animal was at a safe place.
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