A TIGER "tore through" the door of an enclosure which had a defective bolt and then "pounced" on a zookeeper, a witness has told an inquest.
Sarah McClay, 24, from Glasgow, was attacked in the keepers' corridor and dragged by the back of her neck into the tiger's den.
A visitor to South Lakes Wild Animal Park in Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, described the moment he saw the tiger, which was said to be on a fasting day and had not eaten, come through the door and into the corridor as Miss McClay had her back turned.
A jury sitting in Kendal, Cumbria, has heard that systems were in place to ensure that animals and keepers remained apart at all times through indoor and outdoor compartments connected by lockable doors.
Within the tiger enclosure was a light den and a dark den which keepers were required to enter in the course of routine duties such as cleaning.
On Monday the inquest heard that a bolt on the dark den door, which opened on to the keepers' corridor, was found to be defective in the hours following Miss McClay's death on May 24 last year.
An environmental health officer told the jury that the bolt could not be held back and it would bang against the frame when it tried to close, which left a gap of between 20mm and 25mm.
Gareth Bell, 34, from Newcastle, who was visiting the park with his family on the day of the attack, described what he saw through the viewing windows of the tiger house.
He said he saw a tiger move through an internal sliding gate which linked the light den to the dark den.
Then he moved to another window and saw a zookeeper with her back to him.
In "a split second" the tiger moved through the door of the adjoining dark den which led on to the corridor, he said.
He said: "I saw it coming through the door. It tore through It just walked straight through. It walked past her first because she was in the corner and it turned to get her .
"She turned around and started. She was not expecting it to be there. It turned and pounced. That is when I shouted for help.
"When I looked back the tiger had her by the back of her neck. It was dragging her back into the [dark] den."
Mr Bell told Paul Rogers, representing the wildlife park, that the dark den door was "sufficiently open" for the tiger to get through before the attack.
Mr Bell said he saw another tiger appear on the scene and they were "disputing" as the zookeeper was dragged into the dark den.
Nona Usher, from Northumberland, was also visiting the zoo and had expected to watch the tigers' feeding time at about 3.15pm.
She told the inquest that she first saw Miss McClay in the enclosure, possibly cleaning up, whilst the hungry tiger paced back and forwards behind a sliding door.
"He looked like he was on a mission, pacing backwards and forwards," said Mrs Usher.
"I said to my husband ' should that tiger be in there if she is there?'"
Later, after leaving the enclosure, she heard shouts of 'The tiger has got the girl.'
Miss McClay, who was born in Glasgow, died from multiple injuries including deep puncture wounds to the neck, the back of her body and both arms.
Fellow zookeeper Emma Els told the hearing that Miss McClay had let her into the tiger house shortly before the attack to grease the internal sliding gates.
But during the routine she ran out of grease and was let out of the tigers' dark den by Miss McClay and then the keeper's entrance.
She said she could not recall whether her colleague locked the dark den door after letting her out.
The hearing continues.
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