Tiger bites young worker at Luray Zoo
Published: November 19, 2008
A 16-year-old Luray Zoo employee is recovering after being bitten by a tiger.
Zoo co-owner Jennifer Westhoff says the female employee was showing the animal to a group of visitors Sunday when the 5-year-old Bengal tiger named Star bit her through its cage as she tried to pet it.
The girl lost her left pinky and suffered lacerations to her hand. She was transported to the University of Virginia Medical Center and was expected to be released on Wednesday.
Westhoff says Star grabbed the girl’s hand, then got spooked and bit her when a visitor jumped a perimeter fence to help the girl.
The zoo is the only rescue zoo in Virginia. It houses 260 animals, mostly reptiles, over four acres.
Star is the zoo’s only tiger, and Westhoff said she would remain there.
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Reader Reactions
I have been to this zoo and have seen Star personally. She is a beautiful Tiger but still a wild Tiger. I know she is a rescue but we all know that animals like this can not be tamed completely. Who are those famous guys who have been working with Tigers for a long time…. Siegfried and Roy.
If one of them were attacked by a Tiger they raised, what made a 16 year think that one wouldn’t attack her.
I am sorry for the pain and suffering that she is going to have to deal with since she did lose a finger but let it be a lesson learned.
I know the Co-owner of the zoo said that the Tiger will remain at the zoo and I hope that does prove to be true but also hope that in the future they will inform their employee’s to be more careful and that their is not some sort of lawsuit that will put the zoo out of business.
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