WOMAN KILLED BY TIGER

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 89, 9 January 1926, Page 22

WOMAN KILLED BY TIGER

AFTER TRYING TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH IT.

A coronef’s inquiry was held recently at Manchester into the death of Eliza Ann Lambert, head keper in a lion house. Airs. Lambert was found lying half in the tiger's den and half in its front cage. Straw from the tiger’s bed covered the dead body when it was found, and the officials surmised that the beast, following prililitivc instinct, was dragging the woman to its lair when it was disturbed.

Evidence was given that Mrs. I.anibcrt had omitted to close the sliding gate separating the den from the outer cage. The ' cage gate, said Mrs. Lambert’s fbstcr-son, who hdlied her with the cleaning, was worked by a lever. When he got" round to the cage he saw Mrs. Lambert inside the cage lying on the floor, half in the den and half in the cage. The Coroner: Where was the tiger? Witness: In the sleeping den. He was quiet- and seemed done up. Witness added that Mrs. Lambert had apparently been dragged several yards into the den. To his knowledge, she had never before gone into the cage without closing the sliding door. Witness gave the alarm, and tried to beat off the tiger with iron bars. Another keeper, named Clarke, who helped the last witness, said his impression was that the woman had been struck from behind, as she had a big gash in the neck.

The Coroner, returning a verdict of accidental death, said’that there was only one possible explanation of how the tiger got close to her. She must have omitted to close the slide. “It is impossible to get away from the human element.” he observed. “Things wc have been in the habit of doing .as a matter of caution, we suddenly omit to do. I therefore feci it incumbent upon me to recommend that there should always be two people present in risky work of this kind. The work is safe so long as the slide in the cages is closed, but there should be a second person to make certain that this is. done.” It was stated later that the tiger which killed Mrs. Lambert was at large in the jungle less than twelve months ago. Mrs. Lambert, usually most interested in animals, had tried daily to “make friends” with them, but the two tigers resisted all efforts to curb their ferocity. She had, however, induced a tiger and a peacock to live comfortably together, a partnership never previously heard of. She had her pet name for most of the animals, and lions, tigers, and other fierce beasts would lie against the bars and allow her to stroke their heads and fondle them.