Roughly translated by TWIN Observer
NORRKÖPING / TT
Wolves at Kolmården zoo attacked and killed a keeper today.
“The animal keeper was attacked by several wolves and died in the attack. After a while, the staff at the zoo managed to get the wolves away and could get into the wolf enclosure,’ said Magnus Holmstrom, police duty officer in Östergötland, said.
The 30-year-old woman was alone with the wolves when she was attacked. After the alarm emergency services personnel set up together with police and ambulance staff a drive to get past the angry wolf pack and up to the woman.
“We created a human chain and forced back the pack of wolves. At the same time, we had one person who stood ready with weapons, positioned to shoot if there would be a new attack”, said internal commander Jan Tengeborg of emergency services to Norrkoping’s Tidningar online. The strategy was successful and no animals had to be shot.
“She was very badly injured when we got up to her and according to my information, she had died already,” says Jan Tengeborg.
Relatives have been informed. A crisis team has been appointed for Kolmården employees.
“Why the accident could happen is impossible to answer because there are no eyewitnesses. Police are currently conducting a forensic examination of the wolf enclosure, and we will afterwards be able to say how it happened,” says Mats Höggren, Kolmården zoological director, at a press conference.
According to Höggren it was not against the zoo’s rules that the woman went alone to the animals. But his colleagues realized that something was wrong when radio contact was lost with her inside the enclosure. There were eight wolves and it is unclear which of them is attacked first.
“The wolves are not usually aggressive, but we have had minor incidents when play has gone overboard,” he says.
All close contacts between wolves and humans have now stopped at Kolmården. Its security will be reviewed.
None of the wolves have been killed.
“It is very unusual for this kind of happening, but it’s happened before. Zoo Animals are not afraid of humans and it may be an accident,” says Olof Liberg, wolf expert at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
He is not yet familiar with the case, but argues that these kinds of accidents are often due to the routine being broken and that it is primarily dangerous to be with wolves when an attendant goes in by himself.
Kolmården zoo has not informed the visitors about the attack in the wolf enclosure.
“We arrived here just after the tragic incident. Then we saw ambulances and police cars, but we have not received any information about what has happened. Everything was as usual. The only information we have received is through the media in our cell phones,” says a visitor to TT just before 4PM. “It’s very strange,” she says.
At the end of July 2010, there was a serious wolf attack on Kolmården zoo. A one-year wolf got hold of a 21-year-old woman’s jacket, pulled her down on the ground and bit her arm. The incident occurred in connection with a group of visitors that went into the wolf enclosure.
The woman managed with the rest of the patrons to flee out of the enclosure and was bandaged by the park’s veterinarian before she was taken to hospital. According to the zoo the young wolf’s behavior was not meant to be aggressive but was seeking contact.