Hamilton Zoo requires key retention padlock system after tiger kill of zookeeper

Following the deadly attack by a male Sumatran tiger on Sunday on Samantha Kudeweh, a female zookeeper at the Hamilton Zoo, the Hamilton Zoo required a key retention padlock system on animal enclosures.

The enclosure of Oz, the killer tiger, was being cleaned when the incident happened, according to the Hamilton City Council’s statement on its website. TVNZ reports that 11-year-old Oz will not be euthanised, according to decision of the Hamilton City Council.

Lance Vervoort from the council explains that the attack was part of the tiger’s natural instinct and there is no ongoing risk from the big cat. However, Stuffco.nz reports that an expert recommends for Oz to be shipped overseas. Oz, father of two cubs, is important to Hamilton’s ongoing breeding programme to conserve the rare tiger species, Vervoort says.

The tragedy caused the closure of the Hamilton Zoo until Thursday as police and other agencies investigate the incident. The zoo operators would also have the zoo blessed before reopening to the public.

The victim’s family said in a statement that Kudeweh, 43, “was recognized and respected globally as a talented, passionate and highly knowledgeable conservation and zoo professional whose expertise and understanding of animals was highly sought after by other zoos and captive animal breeding programs.”

As a young girl, Samantha told her parents that she wanted to work in a zoo when she becomes an adult. Before she was employed by Hamilton Zoo, Kudeweh volunteered at the Auckland Zoo for several years and then was hired by Zoos Victoria in 2002 in Melbourne where she met her husband, Richard Kudeweh, also a zoo professional. She moved to Hamilton Zoo in 2005.

Kudeweh has two children, 9-year-old Billy and 3-year-old Sage. She worked for the Hamilton Zoo for 10 years. However, she has been in the conservation and zoo sector for over 20 years, according to the Hamilton Zoo. As a curator, she was second-in-charge after the zoo director.

Worksafe New Zealand started on Monday investigation of the incident. Dr Bhagan Antle, big cat commentator of The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, says the probe must include an incident in 2013 when a zookeeper walked 10 metres into an enclosure she thought was empty but turned out to have a five-year-old female tiger inside. The gate was mistakenly left open by some zoo staff.

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