Zoo-keeper mauled to death by tiger was 'doing dream job and would not want animal killed'

• Sep 15, 2014 
• By Jeremy Armstrong

Sarah McClay, 24, was killed by a Sumatran tiger in its enclosure at South Lakes Wild Animal Park in
 Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria 

Sarah McClay

A zoo-keeper mauled to death by a tiger lost her life 'doing her dream job' - and would not want the big cat destroyed, her mum said today. Sarah McClay, 24, was killed by a Sumatran tiger in its enclosure at South Lakes Wild Animal Park in
 Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria.

The animal lover was dragged by the big cat,
 called Padang, and died from "multiple" injuries, including deep wounds to her
neck, back, chest, arms and left foot.
 The beast attacked with such force that Sarah's spine was fractured, her
 ribs shattered, with one of the "unsurvivable" injuries exposing the spinal
 cord.
 Her mum Fiona told her inquest heard today how her daughter was captivated by the animal park during a visit there as a child.

During a safety inspection in the hours after the attack, a "defective"
 bolt was found on a gate in the Tiger House which kept the big cats apart
from their keepers.


Andy Commins / Daily Mirror

Sarah McClay's mother Fiona McClay

The jury was not told whether it had played a role in the tragedy on May 24, 2013.

Fiona said:

"She was an animal carer at the park for three years. She
 talked about it constantly, it was her dream job, ever since she had
visited there as a young child.
 She was interested in the animal world of Great Britain, in their natural
habitats, birds and creatures in hedgerows perhaps rather than animals of
the world.
 She had no particular affinity for the big cats but spoke about working
with them, and she felt it was a privilege. 
She stressed her daughter was "a meticulous person in the extreme" in
 everything that she did.
 She would never just do a job, she would always want to do it that little
better. That was true of her school work and her later life. She was always on
time or before time and would always stay on late in any situation if that 
is what was required.
"

Andy Commins / Daily Mirror

A scale model of the tiger enclosure where the incident happened

"She was never critical of anybody, and enjoyed doing what she was doing."
When asked about calls for the tiger to be destroyed after the tragedy,
Fiona added, "That is absolutely 100 per cent not what Sarah would have
wanted.
 She would not have blamed the tiger for what happened."


Owen Broadhead, Barrow Council senior environmental health officer,
visited the park in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy.
 He showed the jury a video filmed inside the Tiger House shortly
afterwards, and a scale model of the enclosure including three sliding
 metal gates used to secure two Sumatran tigers - including Padang - an Amur
tiger, and two Jaguar big cats.


During his inspection just hours after Sarah's death, he found a
 "defective" bolt on one of the gates, which had not been repaired when he
made a repeat visit the following week.
 He added: "The bolt was still defective. Because the bolt could not be held
back, it would bang against the door frame.
 and left a gap of about 20-25
millimetres. If the bolt had been working properly, it would be held back
and close tightly to the frame.

The jury was shown a "keepers' corridor' on the scale model of the
enclosure where staff worked while the big cats were in their quarters.
 South Cumbria coroner Ian Smith told the six women and four men on the jury
that the hearing was "extremely unusual, and may be distressing" due to the
nature of the attack.
 But he assured them they would not be expected to view "extremely graphic 
or gory" photos during the course of the inquest, expected to last five
 days.


The jury visit the animal park tomorrow to view the scene of the
 tragedy.


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