LONDON — The courtship went on for 10 whole days. They were kept apart, but tantalizingly close, so that each could see, hear and smell the other.

When the matchmakers believed that the time and the place were right — Friday at London Zoo — the rare Sumatran tiger called Asim and a female named Melati were put in the same enclosure to be potential mates.

He promptly killed her — moments after they were introduced for the first time.

[Read: Could a Tiger Tragedy Have Been Avoided?]

The animal’s handlers scrambled in vain to intervene, the zoo said, “using loud noises, flares and alarms to try and distract the pair, but Asim had already overpowered Melati.”