This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

A zoo where a Sumatran tiger mauled a keeper to death has been fined £255,000 for health and safety breaches.

Sarah McClay, 24, was attacked as she carried out cleaning and feeding duties in the tiger house at South Lakes wild animal park in Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, on 24 May 2013.

The male tiger, Padang, was not supposed to have access to the corridor where McClay was attacked, but was able to enter because of a defective bolt on a door.

McClay, who lived in Barrow-in-Furness, suffered multiple injuries in the attack, including deep puncture wounds to her neck and body. She was airlifted to hospital where she was formally pronounced dead.

The park, now known as South Lakes safari zoo, entered guilty pleas at Preston crown court to contravening the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It admitted it had failed to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of employees, including McClay, in connection with the keeping of big cats.

South Lakes Safari Zoo Ltd pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two other contraventions of the Health and Safety at Work Act after another zookeeper, Yasmin Walker, fell from a ladder while preparing to feed big cats in 2014.



The company was fined an additional £42,500 in relation to the other breaches, and must also pay £150,000 prosecution costs.

McClay, originally from Glasgow, had worked at the park for two years and her mother said working with big cats had been her daughter’s dream job. The family asked for the tiger not to be killed. He was put down this year because of his age.

The fine is a comparatively large one. Chester zoo was fined £25,000 in 2004 after it admitted breaching health and safety regulations over an incident in which an elephant lashed a keeper with its trunk and crushed him to death against a wall.