A Topeka zookeeper who was attacked by a Sumatran tiger on Saturday is recovering in the hospital and the endangered animal will not be euthanized, the zoo said.
The female zookeeper was seriously injured, but recovering at a local hospital in intensive care over the weekend. On Monday, she was out of the intensive care unit, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported.
"On behalf of the family, thanks to everyone that has reached out with prayers and signs of hope," Topeka Zoo director Brendan Wiley said on Sunday during a press conference.
Wiley said the zoo has begun an internal investigation into the incident and how it happened by taking personal accounts from witnesses and other zoo employees, but the full picture won't emerge until they can speak with the zookeeper about what she experienced firsthand.
Sanjiv, a 7-year-old Sumatran tiger, attacked the unnamed zookeeper around 9:15 a.m. on Saturday in its outdoor habitat. A zookeeper enters the habitat to "clean, maintain, put out enrichment items" daily, but the tiger is supposed to be locked inside at the time, so it's unclear what happened.
Wiley said the zookeeper suffered "soft tissue" injuries to the back of her head, neck, back and arm, with arteries and bones largely spared. She was still conscious and talking when she left the zoo for the hospital.
Wiley said he was impressed with zoo employees' quick reaction when the emergency call went out on Saturday. The tiger was back indoors within 10 minutes.
He stressed that Sanjiv will not be euthanized.
"Yesterday with a human in his face, he did what a tiger would do," Wiley said.
Sumatran tigers, found only on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, are an endangered species. It's believed that there are only 400 to 500 left in the wild. Wiley said there are 78 in North America zoos and around 80 in European zoos. He estimates there are less than 800 left worldwide, so Sanjiv is "an extremely valuable specimen of that species."
