EDINBURGH Zoo has reviewed safety procedures after a zoo keeper was pictured apparently fleeing from a giant panda in an enclosure.
The images show a female employee just a few feet away from Yang Guang, one of two pandas who have been in Scotland since 2014.
The woman, thought to have been cleaning the enclosure, made her way out of a door leaving a brush behind.
The zoo yesterday confirmed the ‘near miss’ in 2016. It emerged at the same time as details of an email purportedly from disgruntled staff blaming the incident on employee shortages.
The anonymous document sent to the zoo’s management suggested that morale among the workforce was low and claimed the incident had been ‘covered up.'
Among numerous claims about life at the zoo, the document claimed visitor numbers were at an ‘all-time low’ and there existed a “dreadful atmosphere” with “staff morale the lowest we have ever known it.”
It added that they had no confidence in senior management.
The zoo said the email contained ‘inaccuracies’ adding that it would not comment further on any “scurrilous and unfounded allegations made by anonymous sources”.
Despite a 10 per cent decline in visitor numbers last year, the zoo attracted 574,000 people through its gates making it Scotland’s second most popular visitor attraction.
There have been at least two fatalities involving keepers since 2013 at UK zoos.
Sarah McClay, 24, originally from Glasgow, was killed by a Sumatran tiger which entered an enclosure through an unlocked gate at the South Lakes Wild Animal Park in Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, four years ago.
In May, Rosa King, 24, was killed by a tiger at Hamerton Zoo Park in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
Yang Guang was brought to Scotland from China with Tian Tian, in 2014 with the aim of producing a cub. However, they have failed to produce any offspring to date.
The email purportedly from staff said: “We have found out that there was a very serious near miss last year when a panda was let back into the enclosure with a keeper still cleaning in there and she could have been seriously injured or even have died."
It added that the keeper had been off sick since.
It said the panda could have escaped into the zoo's visitor areas and questioned whether staff were waitinf for a 'disaster' before 'things change.'
The email added: “We are seriously worried about our jobs and the future of the zoo."
“Some of the keepers are concerned about the welfare of the animals as sometimes they are so short-staffed and have little time it stops them giving proper care to the animals.
“There has been some near misses, mistakes and animal deaths because of it.”
A zoo spokeswoman said it took staff welfare and morale ‘extremely seriously’ and there had been no grievances raised with its consultation board.
She added that it would not comment on "scurrilous and unfounded allegations made by anonymous sources”.
The spokeswoman added: “The organisation takes staff welfare and morale extremely seriously and has a well-established Employee Consultation Board to draw upon the views and expertise of a broad cross-section of RZSS employees.
She added: “Should any grievances of this sort emerge they would be raised in this forum, which we can confirm has not occurred in this instance.”
A council spokesman said "the zoo has reviewed and revised procedures.”
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