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An eyewitness to the tiger attack at Hamerton Zoo has described dramatic scenes as zookeepers desperately tried to shoo the animal away from a member of staff.

Rosa King was mauled to death by a tiger within an enclosure at around 11am yesterday (May 29).

Tributes have been paid to the zookeeper by her mum and people who met her while she was working at the zoo, which has remained closed today (May 30).

Police have confirmed that the tiger is still alive.

Pete Davies, 55, who was visiting the park with his partner and son, told the News of the moment he and his family feared for their lives.

He said: “We were at the tiger enclosure and there was a guy who was ahead of us with a camera taking photos of animals.

“He was in the next closure, he came running past us really quickly. Then he came back with a few zoo keepers to the viewing area of where the tiger was, and then we heard a girl screaming and another one said 'run to us,' so we found a small room and stayed there until it was safe to leave.

“There was no tiger on the loose because they said we can go into the next part.

“The zoo keepers had their heads in their hands, and didn’t know what to do, throwing meat over the enclosure to entice the tiger away. They shouted stuff.

“It went on for too long. Then we were ushered out and left.

“We didn’t see anything because it happened behind a mound of grass.

“It was a case of total panic. People were really scared, they asked us to leave straight after that and closed the park.



“It was quite early in the day so there can’t have been more than a hundred or so people there."