Lion Man's home scene of fatal mauling 

Source: ONE NewsAerial shot of a tiger encolsure at Whangarei's Zion Wildlife Gardens

• WATCH the video (3:53)

A male keeper has been mauled to death by a tiger, while cleaning an enclosure at Whangarei's Zion Wildlife Gardens .

And people with close links to The Lion Man Craig Busch say it was only a matter of time before someone got killed.

Two keepers had gone into the white tiger enclosure about 11am, Wednesday when one of the two tigers in the enclosure attacked one of the keepers.

Police say despite the best efforts of the second keeper and a rapid response from other park staff, the tiger would not let the male keeper go and he died at the scene before an ambulance arrived.

St John Ambulance says the injuries suffered by the keeper were not survivable.

Spokesman Paul Devanney says the man suffered multiple head, leg and torso injuries and there is nothing ambulance staff could have done to resuscitate him.

A group of eight tourists, a little boy with them, are among those who witnessed part or all of the fatal mauling at a park that's supposed to provide a family friendly adventure. 

Zion Wildlife Gardens Manager Glen Holland says it's an incredibly sad day for the park.

He says a senior cat handler was, together with another handler, cleaning inside the enclosure when a male white white tiger attacked and killed him.  He says staff are absolutely devastated.

'Superb' handler killed

The man that ONE News understands was bitten on the head is Dalu Mncube, originally from South Africa.

"Between him and Craig they are probably the best in the business in terms of handling these big cats. These animals are not easy to work with. He was absolutely superb," says. Brett Christion, former Zion Wildlife Gardens vet.

"We always felt this was a disaster waiting to happen quite honestly."

From the ONE News helicopter, police could be seen surveying an area near a grove of trees, lions and tigers pacing in neighbouring cages.

The beast responsible for the savage mauling has been shot by wildlife park staff.

Inspector Paul Dimery of Northland Police says the scene will be treated as a crime scene until police know any differently.

On Wednesday afternoon, an interpreter was brought in to help police getting a better picture of what happened. A number of tourists who were at the park at the time were French speakers from New Caledonia.

A victim support worker was also on site, staff said to be extremely distressed.

Other park workers were saying little about how the death happened.

Beleagured Lionman upset

The park became famous with the TV2 programme The Lionman but presenter Craig Busch hasn't worked at the park for months after being sacked during a bitter dispute with his mother.

Busch claims he was unfairly sacked from the park last November.

But on Wednesday afternoon he released a statement saying the fatality is an absolutely tragic event for all involved, he knew the keeper well and he is available to assist the police and other authorities as they deal with the shocking events.
 
He says the outstanding matters surrounding his ongoing involvement with the park are irrelevant in the context of what has happened on Wednesday.
 
Busch's lawyer Daniel Erickson says that contrary to media reports there was no-one from the Employment Relations Authority at the park at the time of the attack.
 
Erickson also says one of the issues raised by Busch at the authority on Tuesday was safety.  

For now the park is closed and the Department of Labour is also investigating what led to the death of of an apparently experienced big cat handler.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the coroner have also been advised.

The wildlife gardens currently has barbary and white lions, royal white and orange Bengal tigers, two serval cats, a black leopard and a baboon.

Did you witness the attack? If so ONE News would like to hear from you. Please email news@tvnz.co.nz