Dutch safari park says zookeeper dies days after being attacked in leopard enclosure

What happened in the enclosure

The keeper was mauled in a leopard enclosure and died days later, the safari park said on Tuesday. The park has not explained exactly what happened, noting that there are no cameras in the enclosure.

The animals were inside because of bad weather. Staff are usually kept away from the leopards, according to the report.

A longtime park employee

The park said the keeper began working at Beekse Bergen Safari Park when she was 17. With only a few short interruptions, she worked there for nearly 40 years.

In a social media statement, the park said her death had deeply affected staff and that they were grieving with her family, friends and loved ones. It asked for peace and privacy as they process the loss.

Leopards and other fatal attacks

A park spokesperson told local outlet Omroep Brabant that the leopards were behaving naturally. The zoo describes leopards as solitary predatory cats found in Africa and Asia that primarily hunt animals such as deer, monkeys and antelope at night. The report also cited three previous fatal incidents involving big cats: a zookeeper killed by a lion in Thailand last year, a zookeeper killed by lions in Crimea in October 2024, and a recent college graduate killed by an escaped lion at a North Carolina conservatory in 2018.