Mother mauled to death by tiger while working as zookeeper

A female zookeeper has been mauled to death by a tiger in New Zealand.Married Samantha Lynda Kudeweh was attacked by 11-year-old Oz at the Hamilton Zoo on Sunday.

The 43-year-old mother was a senior member of the team and had worked as a zookeeper for more than 20 years.

She was thought to have been attacked by the Sumatran tiger while the enclosure was being cleaned, local media reported.

Today her family paid tribute to Mrs Kudeweh, who was described as a internationally respected and talented conservation and zoo professional.

Speaking on behalf of the family, her colleague Catherine Nichols said: "Samantha was a passionate conservationist, and today her family have recalled how, as an intermediate school student, she told her parents she wanted to work in the zoo sector."

Tigers at Hamilton Zoo. Oz, the animal involved in the incident, is in the far left in other enclosure

The tiger involved in the attack has been isolated in an enclosure, with the zoo expected to remain closed until Thursday.

Around a dozen people were believed to have been visiting the zoo at the time of the incident, mostly families.

A spokesman for Hamilton Zoo said they were "deeply saddened" by Mrs Kudeweh's death.

"Our focus at this time is on supporting staff and the wider zoo family, and working with relevant agencies on investigations which are underway. Hamilton Zoo will be closed until Thursday," the spokesman added.

Mrs Kudeweh met her husband Richard, another zoo worker, while in Melbourne. They had two children together, Billy, aged nine, and Sage, three.

The couple moved to Hamilton Zoo in 2005, where Mrs Kudeweh rose to become zoo curator.

The death is the third at a New Zealand zoo in six years. 

Local police were investigating the tragedy, the third death at a New Zealand zoo in six years.

A police spokesman said: "There was a women who's deceased and as a result of that we've started our enquiries into what happened."

In April 2012 keeper Helen Schofield was crushed to death by an elephant at Franklin Zoo near Auckland and in 2009 a rare white tiger killed Clifford Dalu MnCube at Whangarei's Zion Wildlife Gardens.