This young woman has been mauled to death by a tiger in a safari park after she was sent to clean up and not told its cage door was open.
Pretty ecotourism graduate Catalina Torres Ibarra was killed by the big cat at Safari Rancagua in the central Chilean city of the same name on the morning of Friday, 6th August.
Catalina, 21, was working at the safari park at the time and was sent to perform cleaning duties when the fatal attack occurred.
According to her colleague Leonardo Maluenda, she was not told the tiger’s cage door was open.
Leonardo told reporters: “The most logical thing is that they tell you to be careful if you go to clean up there because the tiger is loose, but they did not warn her.”
A spate of finger pointing has followed, with administration and finance manager Antonio Rojas claiming that a group of workers had deliberately unlocked the tigers’ cage against protocol.
The workers in question, on the other hand, have said that the cage was already open and that they did not open it themselves.
Catalina was tasked with cleaning and maintenance at the safari park, where she had been working for over two years, and she occasionally gave guided tours to families.
However, according to the park, none of her duties involved having direct contact with any of the animals. The park is now being investigated for possible negligence.
At the time of reporting, the tiger that killed Catalina had not been euthanised, but its fate remains unclear.
Catalina Torres Ibarra who died inside the Rancagua Safari Park in Chile, after being attacked by a tiger in 2021 
Catalina Torres Ibarra who died inside the Rancagua Safari Park in Chile, after being attacked by a tiger in 2021 
Tiger in the Rancagua Safari Park in Chile
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Story By: William McGee, Sub-Editor: James King, Agency: Newsflash
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