A 52-year-old zoo employee died Monday morning, December 9, following an incident with a tiger at Pitesti Zoo, located approximately 60 miles from Bucharest, Romania.
The employee, who had worked at the facility since 2015, was bitten on the head while performing cleaning duties in the tiger’s enclosure.
According to zoo officials, the incident occurred when the staff member failed to follow mandatory safety protocols that require tigers to be completely separated from access areas during maintenance activities. The protocols specify that workers must move tigers to a secured yard with high fencing and ensure the safety door is closed before entering the enclosure.
Mayor Cristian Gentea addressed the incident, stating, “This is the first time in 50 years that something like this has happened.” He emphasized that the incident “occurred as a result of the employee’s strict failure to comply with safety protocols, mandatory protocols for working with wild animals.”
Emergency response teams were dispatched to the scene but were unable to save the employee. Local prosecutors and police have initiated an investigation into the incident, filing charges for manslaughter and failure to comply with health and safety measures.
The incident has prompted immediate action from zoo management. Representatives announced that security procedures will undergo radical changes in the coming weeks to prevent similar incidents. The facility has temporarily suspended operations while internal investigations continue.
This is not the first safety-related incident involving tigers at Romanian zoos. In 2000, a tiger escaped from the same facility when a worker failed to secure multiple doors. The animal was located within an hour in a nearby forest and safely returned to its enclosure. More recently, in December 2023, a tiger at Sibiu Zoo escaped due to an unlocked door. After a two-hour search, authorities were forced to euthanize the animal when it displayed aggressive behavior.
Safety guidelines for tiger facilities worldwide emphasize comprehensive measures, including written safety policies, staff training, and clear procedures for moving tigers between enclosures. These guidelines stress that tigers pose extreme dangers even when they appear docile.
Similar incidents have occurred at other facilities globally. In May 2017, Rosa King, a keeper at Hamerton Zoo Park in Cambridgeshire, UK, died after entering a tiger enclosure without ensuring the isolation slide was closed. In 2021, keeper David Solomon was killed by a Siberian tiger at Seaview Predator Park in South Africa after an electric fence was deactivated for maintenance.