KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ The Topeka Zoo's male Sumatran tiger, Sanjiv, attacked a female zoo keeper Saturday morning in full view of visitors, sending the keeper to local hospital.
The keeper's injuries were not known as of early Saturday morning, but Molly Hadfield, the director of media relations for the City of Topeka, said that she was awake when she was transported.
"So we had a keeper who was attacked, not attacked, but was injured this morning," Hadfield told The Star. "We had a keeper and tiger in the same space. Our keeper was injured."
Topeka police responded and are preparing an incident report. The injury occurred at about 9:45 a.m., less than an hour after the zoo opened Saturday morning. The zoo was closed temporarily for about 45 minutes. The zoo has six tigers in its collection, two adults and four cubs that were just born in October and, as the weather warmed, went on display for the first time last month.
Hadfield said she could not speak to the fate of Sanjiv, who arrived at the zoo in 2017, but said there was no plan the euthanize the tiger at this point. Sumatran tigers are an endangered species.
"I don't know right now. We're trying to figure it out," Hadfield said of their plans. "Our tiger is in holding right now."
