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Zion Wildlife Gardens zookeeper Dalu Mncube - Source: ONE News -
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The South African animal keeper mauled to death at the Zion Wildlife Park in Whangarei had rescued a colleague from the jaws of the same 260kg tiger in February.
In that attack, Dalu Mncube, Zion Wildlife Gardens' most experienced big-cat keeper, plunged his fingers into the gap between the tiger's 75mm-long teeth, before using a fire extinguisher to force the animal to release his Australian colleague, Demetri Price.
But there was no similar rescue for him on Wednesday, when the tiger tore into his abdomen and lower leg, while two keepers were cleaning the tiger enclosure.
Northland police spokeswoman Sarah Kennett said that despite the best efforts of the other keeper, the tiger wouldn't let go, and Mncube died at the scene before an ambulance arrived.
Staff shot the tiger, Abu, to recover Mncube's body.
Eight foreign tourists on a tour of the park witnessed the attack, and an Auckland man who was visiting the park with two friends from the United Kingdom said: "It was very, very frightening."
Some of the tourists are understood to be French-speaking New Caledonians.
Mncube said at the time of the February attack that it was over before he knew it, though Price suffered four bites.
"I never got scared," Mncube said: "You stay nice and calm. If I got scared and panicked we could have had two casualties."
Mncube said all keepers knew to keep calm if an animal bit.
Abu, the park's biggest Bengal white tiger, was not one of the tigers that interact with the public because of his tendency to get frightened.
Price said the attack on him occurred when Abu got scared while he was being moved and bit him four times because the cat feared he was being cornered. Abu was biting his knee, and he had him in "tooth block" hold, holding the tiger's lips over his teeth, when Mncube stepped in.
"If you're doing this type of work and you haven't thought about it happening then you shouldn't be doing your job," said Mr Price after being treated for his injuries.
Mncube's friend and colleague, Glen Holland, described him as "larger than life".
"People enjoyed being with him, people enjoyed being around him, he had an incredible ability with the cats, he said. "The best that we've seen at the park."
"Dalu was really the heartbeat of the whole lot - keeping everybody together," he said.
The South African, known as "Uncle Dalu", had replaced Craig Busch, star of the Lion Man TV series, as the park's senior cat handler.
Holland moved to Zion from Auckland Zoo after Busch lost his zoo operator's licence.
The park will be working with police, and officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and Department of Labour today to try and establish exactly what happened in the fatal attack, Holland said.
Busch, who is in the middle of an employment dispute with his estranged mother and park owner Patricia Busch, said the mauling was an "a terrible personal blow".
He claimed during Employment Relations Authority hearing on Tuesday that animal welfare and safety standards had slipped at the park since the breakdown of his relationship with his mother.
