Bears Attack ZooKeeper

Bears Attack ZooKeeper In Chinese Wildlife Park As Scared Visitors Watch.

A zookeeper has been killed by a group of bears at a wild animal park in China as horrified visitors on a passing tour bus watched on.

The accident occurred on Saturday afternoon at Shanghai Wild Animal Park.

Horrified visitors claimed on social media that the animal carer was torn up and eaten by the beasts at Shanghai Wild Animal Park.

The park confirmed that a worker had died after being attacked by bears. It did not give details or comment on the online allegations.

Chinese state-owned tabloid Global Times reported that an excavator working nearby drove towards the animals in an attempt to move the bears and save the person, but it was too late.

The video has since been widely shared on Chinese social media network Weibo, and watched more than 658,000 times within the last 18 hours.

It added that the victim was ‘carrying out work’ in the areas for wild beasts – an open-air section where large carnivore animals are allowed to roam free to be observed by tourists on board of specialised vehicles.

Footage supplied to MailOnline purports to show the accident. The 56-second clip, shot from a tourist bus, shows around eight bears gathering in a pond at a distance, seemingly engaging in an activity together.

MailOnline cannot independently verify the video.

A separate video circulating among Chinese media shows terrified tourists inside a bus fearing for the worst as they yelled ‘what are they (the bears) doing’ and ‘there seems to be a man’.

Shanghai Wild Animal Park said it had set up a special team to investigate the matter. It vowed to strengthen its safety management.

The park said that it was heartbroken over the death of the worker and had expressed condolences to the victim’s family.

It also apologised to the public for the inconvenience the accident brought.

Occupying 374 acres, Shanghai Wild Animal Park keeps more than 100,000 animals belonging to more than 200 species, according to its website.

It consists of a walking area where visitors observe various species on foot and a bus-riding section where tourists enjoy close contact with wild animals while on board of a vehicle.