Tiger death zoo fined nearly £300,000

A ZOO in Cumbria has been fined almost £300,000 and ordered to pay £150,000 costs after one of its keepers was killed by a Sumatran tiger in 2013.

Sarah McClary, aged 24, was mauled to death after being pounced on by the tiger, Padang, in the keeper’s corridor of the tiger house at South Lakes Safari Zoo in Dalton-in-Furness.

She was airlifted to hospital with multiple injuries before being pronounced dead.
South Lakes Safar Zoo, owned by David Gill since it was founded 22 years ago, admitted at Preston Crown Court breaches under Sections 2 and 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

It was fined £255,000 and an additional £42,500 after pleading guilty to another health and safety offence following a zoo keeper’s plunge from a ladder in July 2014, following the prosecution brought about as a result of an investigation by Barrow Borough Council.