TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A worker at a wildlife park in Crimea died Wednesday when she was attacked by lions,…
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A worker at a Crimean wildlife park died Wednesday when she was attacked by lions, officials said.
According to the office of the Russian Investigative Committee in the Russian-annexed peninsula, the death occurred when the worker entered a cage in Taigan Park to clean it. The cage contained three lions, but the employee did not lock the interior door that would have separated her from them, the committee said in a statement.
Taigan Park is located in Belogorsk, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) east of Simferopol, the capital of Crimea. Russia Crimea unilaterally annexed of Ukraine in 2014, but most of the world does not recognize it as Russian territory.
According to the park’s website, it is home to approximately 60 lions on more than 30 hectares (75 acres). About 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) of elevated walkways allow visitors to observe lions in the wild.
The investigative committee said it had opened criminal proceedings for possible accusations of negligence, but it was unclear whether the park or the employee had been negligent.
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