CBS News
Lions maul worker to death as she went to clean cages at safari park, Crimea officials say
A group of lions mauled a zookeeper to death at one of Europe’s largest big-cat parks on Wednesday after a door inside their enclosure was left unlocked, investigators in Crimea said.
The mauling occurred at the Taigan safari park on the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula, one of the largest breeding grounds for lions in Europe and home to around 60 of the predators.
“A criminal case has been opened over the death of an employee at the Taigan lion park as a result of a predator attack,” the Moscow-installed Investigative Committee of Crimea and Sevastopol said in a statement.
The employee who had worked at the park for almost 17 years died after she “went to clean a cage with three lions, without shutting the bolt of a door between two rooms of the enclosure,” investigators said.
The park’s owner Oleg Zubkov identified the victim as chief zookeeper Leokadia Perevalova, calling the incident a “tragic” mistake.
“It is unclear how and why this happened, as the animals could not have done such a thing on their own, and apparently there were no people around,” he said in a statement on his blog.
“The employees who discovered the body, unfortunately, could no longer provide any assistance, since she had simply been torn to pieces,” he said.
On his Telegram channel, Zubkov praised Perevalova as a “valuable employee” who was the “soul of our park,” adding that “the human factor of forgetfulness played a role.”
“Unfortunately when I arrived there was nothing I could do to help. (They are) top predators and they do not forgive mistakes, he said.
A criminal case has been opened into the death of a person by workplace negligence, investigators said.
The sprawling 70-acre park was opened to visitors in 2012 on the site of a former military base. According to the park’s website, about 1 kilometer of elevated walkways allow visitors to observe lions roaming freely.
Authorities closed the zoo for a month in December 2019 after they accused Zubkov of giving the animals expired feed, an allegation he denied.
He accused Crimea’s Russian-installed authorities of trying to “bankrupt” his business and of deliberately freezing his projects after they seized power in 2014.
Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014 but is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine.
Fatal lion attacks at zoos are extremely rare. In 2018, a lion escaped its enclosure and killed a recent college graduate at a North Carolina conservatory during a routine cleaning. Authorities were told the lion was able to enter the same space as 22-year-old Alex Black because a large ball prevented the lion’s pen from closing.
In 2013, a lion killed a 24-year-old volunteer at a Central California animal park after it escaped from a feeding cage and attacked her while she was cleaning its enclosure area.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
There is a new wave of calls for Congress to return to Washington to respond to the growing costs of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Multiple members of Congress from hurricane-ravaged states have issued new calls for the U.S. House and Senate to respond to the depletion of funds from the U.S. Small Business Administration disaster loan fund.
“It’s unacceptable that Congress remains in recess while families and businesses across North Carolina and beyond are in urgent need of assistance,” said Rep. Wally Nickel, a first-term Democrat from North Carolina.
Nickel said, “In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, our communities are struggling to recover and our small businesses are desperate for support as they work to rebuild. Their recovery efforts are stalled without additional funding.”
Congress has returned home through the middle of November, as the entire U.S. House and nearly a third of the Senate face reelection races. Congressional leaders have defied calls for action on the loan funds before the election.
The U.S. Small Business Administration announced Tuesday that it had exhausted the available funds in its disaster loan program, which is used by businesses and homeowners who are affected by natural disasters. According to CBS News reporting earlier this month, the agency had issued warnings to legislators that the hurricanes risked draining needed funds and urged Congress to swiftly approve more money.
The agency said, “Until Congress appropriates additional funds, the SBA is pausing new loan offers for its direct, low-interest, long-term loans to disaster survivors.” The agency said it will continue to urge victims to apply for loans “given assurances from Congressional leaders that additional funding will be provided upon Congress’s return in November.”
Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, said he has urged Senate leaders to reconvene as soon as possible after assessments of damage and the needs of agencies, including the Small Business Administration. In a statement posted on social media, Scott said he has spoken with the Small Business Administration to discuss the needs of his constituents.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat and former state emergency manager, told CBS News, “Thousands of applications are coming in each day for disaster loans following Hurricane Helene and Milton. Congress knew this fund was running low as we left for recess during hurricane season, and we failed to be proactive. We shouldn’t be waiting until mid-November to come back to D.C. and fix this.”
Speaker Mike Johnson’s office did not immediately return a request for comment about Congress returning early to address Small Business Administration funding. On “Face the Nation” Sunday, Johnson addressed questions about whether Congress should return early to respond to calls to bolster funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Johnson said, “Congress can’t meet and just send money on a guess or an estimate of what the damages are. The way supplemental disaster funding is provided is that, you know, the state sends in actual needs. It’s assessed by Congress and then handed out that way. But again, remember, they have billions, tens of billions of dollars that were already sent to FEMA, one day before Helene made landfall. So they have plenty of resources.”
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.