Trainee worker ‘locked in lion enclosure’ at Belfast Zoo

Investigation launched after incident, during which pride of Barbary lions was roaming freely

A trainee worker is thought to have been locked in a lion enclosure at Belfast Zoo.
The worker entered the enclosure with a more experienced member of staff last week to tend to a pride of Barbary lions that was roaming freely, the Belfast Telegraph reported.
The more senior staff member is said to have then left the paddock and locked the gate, leaving the colleague trapped inside, a source told the newspaper.
The colleague is believed to be an adult participating in a Northern Irish training scheme for unemployed people aged between 50 and 64.
“They are very lucky they weren’t killed or severely mauled and left with horrendous injuries… It’s just another thing that raises serious questions for Belfast Zoo,” the source said. 
Belfast city council, which owns the zoo, said an investigation has been launched following the incident. However, the council was not able to confirm the details.
A zoo spokesman said: “We take the safety of all our staff, visitors and animals very seriously and an investigation is under way into the circumstances of this incident. We cannot comment further while this is ongoing.”
The incident was also reported to the Health and Safety Executive NI, according to The Times.
The zoo is home to three Barbary lions, which were once native to North Africa and were used in the Colosseum during Roman times to battle with gladiators.
They are now extinct in the wild – with the last recorded Barbary lion shot in Morocco in 1942 – and are only found in zoos.
At Belfast Zoo, a male lion named Qays lives with two females named Fidda and Theibba.
The species measures one metre in height at the shoulder and up to three and a half metres in length, and its average weight can be up to 230 kilograms.
Earlier this year, a report by the Aspinall Foundation, a UK-based animal conservation charity, said that Belfast Zoo had 31 breaches of animal welfare standards, MailOnline reported.
In 2016, it was alleged that some animals at the zoo were kept in unacceptable conditions.
The allegations were made by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, which wrote to Belfast city council with its concerns.
At the time, a spokesman for the council said the zoo was undergoing an “improvement process”.