[imagesource:here]

The Seaview Predator Park in Gqeberha has confirmed that one of its employees, David Solomon, was killed yesterday afternoon.

The electric fencing of an enclosure holding two Siberian tigers, Jasper and Jade, was being repaired when Jasper managed to jump over an exterior fence and get out.

Solomon, who had worked at the park for around 15 years, knew both of the tigers since they were cubs, according to a statement released by Seaview Predator Park.

He was in the passageway between enclosures walking towards the water supply taps when the incident occurred:

David [pictured below, with the black shirt] attempted to climb the fence of a different enclosure to get to safety and was pulled off the fence by Jasper. We confirm that David obviously had bite marks but it would seem that Jasper broke David’s neck when he pulled David off the fence.

Image: Seaview Predator Park

Jasper then proceeded to jump the exterior fence of the next door enclosure which houses Siberian Tigers Judah and Amber. A fight ensued between Judah and Jasper and Judah was killed.

Jasper, being an entire male Siberian tiger, wanted the attentions of Amber, an entire female Siberian Tiger.

There were members of the public present at the park when this occurred, and they were kept in safe areas until they were able to return to their vehicles, with the park shut down for the day.

A vet was called to tranquilise Jasper and Amber to allow for Solomon’s remains to be retrieved, as well as the remains of the tiger killed by Jasper.

The park said it will not be putting Jasper down:

We would like to confirm that all the large cats are safely contained in their enclosures and the electric fencing is fully functional. Jasper’s incident is a first at the Park and was obviously fuelled by hormones. Jasper is now quite calm and content sharing an enclosure with Amber and there are no plans to destroy Jasper.

There has been a great deal of criticism levelled at the park, especially on Facebook, in the comments section under the statement.

Here’s one particularly heated exchange:

According to a post on March 27, Jade and Jasper had been moved to the “front row” after “being ‘hidden’ for nearly 6 years”.

The park will also remain closed today, “out of respect for David and the staff”.

[source:seaview]