Zookeeper mauled to death by a tiger in a zoo which sold 'tiger bone wine'
A zookeeper who was accused of boiling cat bones to make wine was brutally mauled to death by a tiger.
The unnamed man who was in his 50s was cleaning the animals' enclosure when he was attacked by a tiger on Tuesday, May 8. He was left entirely alone in the pen by his colleague in the Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village in the city of Guilin in southern China, NY Post reported.
The zoo is a mere training center for entertainment circus and the tigers along with other animals are kept in the shabby concrete arena And after the death of the tigers, the bones are used to make liquor.
In China, the tigers are specially bred — after their death the bones and skin are used to make various other products under demand on the world market.
The drink — a sickly sweet 38 percent proof liquor — is said to improve sex drive in people. The tigers are reportedly boiled and their bones steeped in the vats of rice wine to make this liquor — despite the infamous ban of breeding tigers for parts, a report in the Daily Mail said.
It is then allegedly sold at great prices in hotels and restaurants.A statement released by the Guilin government said officials are probing the keeper's death – the zoo's second in 14 years after another staff member died while feeding the big cats in2004.
The man had been cleaning the cage with another colleague of his when he was left alone for a few minutes when his fellow worker returned he found the man to be dead. There were no tourists at the time of the attack because the zoo was closed to visitors since November 1 for renovation.
While the zoo has confirmed the cause of death to be mauling, it has not specified which species of animal attacked the employee. Amongst its 1,100 tigers are South China tigers, Bengal tigers, white tigers and Siberian tigers.
The zoo has an infamous reputation with multiple accusations for the deaths of the tigers in the past.