Colchester: Tiger killed in zoo tragedy
From the archive, first published Monday 29th Nov 1999.
Keepers at Colchester Zoo were still in a state of shock today after a male tiger killed its partner.
The keepers had been trying to get the Siberian white tigers together but, after ten minutes in the same compound, the male jumped on the female and grabbed her by the throat.
She was killed instantly.
There were six keepers on the scene at the time but despite using water, brooms and a dart gun, the male - called Sacha - managed to kill the female Anna.
The tragedy on Saturday morning took place before the Stanway zoo was open to the public and was part of a seven-day plan to get the tigers together. They have been at the zoo for 18 months and are both aged four.
It was the second day of the plan and the first attempt on Friday had been successful with the pair staying together for half an hour with few problems.
As the female was in season, the keepers thought it was potentially the right time to bring the pair together.
The same operation was repeated on Saturday but tragedy struck within minutes.
"We put them together with the intention of leaving them together for an hour," zoo boss Anthony Tropeano said.
"There were no problems in the first ten minutes but, at five past nine, the male jumped on her and grabbed her by the throat. The keepers used water and brooms to attempt to separate them, sadly unsuccessfully.
"We had a darting gun ready, so darted him. However, by the time the drug had an effect, it was too late," he added.
The male tiger weighs about 800lb and Mr Tropeano said the tranquillising dart would have taken between five and ten minutes to have any effect.
"It was not a fight that got out of control," he said.
"Zoos have been putting tigers together for years and a reaction like this is not regular. We have had no problems before and it was the standard procedure," Mr Tropeano said.
He added: "It was very distressing for the staff.
"Spare a thought for the keepers who took the decision to get these two animals together and will now, undoubtedly, feel responsible. We all do.
"The best way I can describe it is that, for some time, we will all feel the end of the world has come," Mr Tropeano said.