A longtime zookeeper at a safari park in the Netherlands has died after she was attacked by a leopard inside its enclosure, Safaripark Beekse Bergen confirmed on Tuesday. The woman, who began working at the park when she was 17 and spent nearly her entire 40-year career there, suffered serious head and neck injuries in the attack on Saturday, October 24, and died three days later despite emergency surgery.
What happened on Saturday
The attack took place on Saturday morning in an indoor enclosure at Beekse Bergen in Hilvarenbeek, in the south of the Netherlands, where the keeper was caring for two male Persian leopards. The animals had been kept indoors because of bad weather, according to the park and local reports. At around 11 a.m. local time, the keeper managed to alert colleagues by walkie-talkie that she had been hurt. An ambulance and a trauma helicopter were dispatched to the park, and she was taken to hospital for emergency surgery.
Her condition worsened on Sunday evening, and the park said it did not expect her to survive. On Tuesday, Beekse Bergen announced her death in a statement issued together with her family. Her name has been withheld in accordance with Dutch privacy law.
A 40-year career at the park
“The keeper started at the Beekse Bergen Safari Park at the age of 17 and worked here, with only a few short interruptions, for nearly 40 years,” the park said. “Her passing deeply affects us all, and we sympathize intensely with her family, friends, and loved ones.” Reports say she had spent about eight years caring for the leopards. The park said an area will be set up where condolences can be left, and staff will be given time to grieve.
Questions the investigation must answer
The central unanswered question is why the keeper was in the enclosure with the leopards at all. Zoo staff are typically not permitted to be in the same space as predatory animals, and the park has said an investigation is underway to determine exactly how she came to be there. The indoor enclosure has no surveillance cameras, so there is no video of what happened inside.
The park has also confirmed that the leopards will not be put down. “They are, and remain, predators,” a park spokesperson told local broadcaster Omroep Brabant, adding that the animals were behaving naturally. An independent investigation is expected to establish the full circumstances, and the case has reopened debate about how zoos manage the risks of working around big cats, even for their most experienced keepers.
Watch: Video reports on the Beekse Bergen leopard attack
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Sources: Associated Press via LA NACION, New York Post, 1News