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Neuwied (dpa / lrs) - A few weeks after her arrival at the Neuwied Zoo, the tiger lady Kimberly was fatally injured by a conspecific.

As the zoo announced, the Siberian tiger Ivo had attacked his new companion at a first meeting.

"We are all deeply shocked," said zoo director Mirko Thiel on Wednesday.

Despite security, the male big cat managed to kill the tigress who arrived in November.

The bite wounds would not have looked life-threatening at first.

Nevertheless, Kimberly died two days later.

It was said that this incident was not expected.

The female big cat reacted very nervously and aggressively to the new environment in the first few weeks after arriving from Magdeburg Zoo.

Gradually, however, the tigress relaxed.

The aggressive and "noisy encounters" between the big cats were also less in December.

According to the zoo, the animals had got used to each other "and showed clear signs of affection."

It was not foreseeable that the merger would end bloody.

«Immediately after the slide was opened, Ivo stormed towards Kimberly.

After a few seconds it was clear that the encounter from his side was an aggressive attack and everything was done to separate the fighting tigers, ”said a statement from the zoo.

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Nevertheless, it took a few seconds for eight-year-old Ivo to be locked in another cage.

The preparations for this moment were thorough, the separation attempts were made as soon as possible.

“You can't do more than that, the rest is up to the nature of the animals, and unfortunately it is not always predictable,” said the zoo.

The zoo in the north of Rhineland-Palatinate has 80 employees and around 1,800 animals live there.

In the past few months, a financial crisis had emerged there, as the corona-related lockdown had lost important income.

Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD) had already planned a round table - but then donations totaling more than 250,000 euros saved the private zoo.

Dreyer announced additional state and federal funds totaling a good 150,000 euros.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210127-99-193223 / 2

Zoo in Neuwied