THE OWNER of a zoo which admitted health and safety breaches over the death of a Scots zookeeper who was mauled by a Sumatran tiger, has walked free from court.
Sarah McClay, 24, was killed while working in the keeper's corridor of the tiger house at South Lakes Wild Animal Park in Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, on May 24, 2013.
Miss McClay, a keen conservationist originally from Glasgow, suffered "unsurvivable" multiple injuries and was airlifted from the scene to hospital where she was formally pronounced dead.
The firm, known as South Lakes Safari Zoo Limited, admitted failing to ensure the safety of employees.
But the prosecution offered no evidence against zoo founder, owner and director, David Gill, 55, who faced individual charges on the same allegations and formal not guilty verdicts were recorded against him.
Following the hearing, Miss McClay's boyfriend, David Shaw, said: "It's a shame it took this long to come to what was a fairly obvious conclusion but I am pleased we do not have to go through a trial."
Miss McClay had worked at the park for more than two years and was well experienced with working with big cats which she saw as a "privilege".
She was killed by the tiger while carrying out cleaning and feeding duties.
In September 2014, an inquest jury heard that the Sumatran tiger entered two open internal sliding gates within the enclosure and then an open door that led on to the corridor.
Systems were in place to ensure animals and keepers were kept apart at all times through indoor and outdoor compartments connected by lockable self-closing doors, the inquest heard.
When zoo staff rushed to her aid they found the door to one of the tigers' dens ajar and unlocked.
An inquest heard that a bolt on the top of the dark den door - which had been the one open immediately before the attack - was found to be defective.
The jury found that one or more of the bolts on that door extended so as to prevent it from closing into the frame.
On Wednesday, the company accepted its risk assessment did not address sufficiently the risks arising from a failure to maintain the dark den door.
The company said "a more proactive maintenance and inspection regime" should have been in place to ensure that the door functioned efficiently and that its self-closing mechanism worked properly.
It added: "The failure of the door to self-close was a more than trivial cause of harm."
It can now be reported that South Lakes Safari Zoo Ltd pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two other contraventions of the Health and Safety at Work Act when a zoo keeper fell from a ladder while preparing to feed big cats on July 18, 2014.
It is expected that the firm will receive a financial penalty tomorrow (FRIDAY).
In March the zoo announced the tiger, called Padang, had died due to "welfare complications arising from his age".
After the incident, Miss McClay’s family said they were hurt by suggestions by zoo owner David Gill, that she had died because of “keeper error” and a “sad error of judgment”, describing the comments as “ill-advised, premature and disrespectful.
Her mother Fiona McClay, from Linlithgow, West Lothian, said it was her daughter's "dream job" after she had visited the park as a child.
The McClay family moved to Cumbria from Glasgow in 1998.
Sentencing will take place at Preston Crown Court on Friday.
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