Rare White Tiger Kills Zookeeper

He was found in a cage, bleeding from the neck
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 9, 2018 2:07 AM CDT
Updated Oct 9, 2018 5:03 AM CDT
Rare White Tiger Kills Zookeeper
King Zulu, a white Bengal tiger, sits in his enclosure at the Audobon Zoo in New Orleans.   (Audubon Nature Institute via AP)

A rare attack from a rare tiger killed a zookeeper in Japan on Monday. Officials say 40-year-old Akira Furosho was found bleeding from the neck in a cage in the Hirakawa Zoological Park in the southern city of Kagoshima, the BBC reports. They believe he was attacked by Riku, one of the zoo's four white tigers. The 375-pound animal, a 5-year-old male, was sedated with a tranquilizer gun. Police are investigating procedures at the zoo, where the manual states that keepers are not allowed to enter display cages until tigers have been moved to their sleeping chambers, reports the Japan Times. (Last year, two white tiger cubs killed a novice zookeeper in India.)

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