Tiger owner after escape: "I didn't do anything wrong"

In her own words, the owner of the tiger that escaped near Leipzig has no explanation as to how the escape could have happened. "I didn't do anything wrong. My helpers are 100 percent instructed. I don't understand what happened here", the "Leipziger Volkszeitung" newspaper quoted tamer Carmen Zander as saying. She herself was not present at the scene of the incident.

On Sunday afternoon, an adult male tiger escaped from the enclosure in an industrial estate in Dölzig near the Autobahn 9. A 72-year-old helper of the tamer was seriously injured. The police shot the tiger in the area of an allotment garden. According to the authorities, there were a total of nine tigers living in the enclosure before the escape.

Keeper doesn't want to lose tigers

"I know my enclosure inside out. I am regularly inspected by the authorities. It's all very safe here," said Zander. She hopes that the injured helper will now recover quickly. Only he knows what happened. "Only he can exonerate me," said the woman. "For me, the biggest goal at the moment is not to lose my animals."

The public prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into negligent assault by omission. The seriously injured 72-year-old was initially fit for questioning after the accident.