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May 27, 2009, 8:08 GMT

New Zealand zookeeper mauled to death by tiger (Roundup)

Wellington - A zookeeper who was killed by a rare white tiger at a New Zealand wildlife park on Wednesday had saved a fellow worker from a similar attack in February, according to news reports. Dalu Mncube, a South African native, was fatally mauled while cleaning an enclosure in the Zion Wildlife Gardens in Whangarei, the main city of New Zealand's Northland province. The Royal White Tiger - one of only 120 left in the world, according to the New Zealand Herald website - had to be killed by wildlife park staff in order to recover the body of the dead man, who left a partner and 1-year-old daughter. The sub-species of the Bengal tiger is thought to be extinct in the wild. A group of eight overseas tourists looked on horrified as one of two white tigers in the enclosure attacked the man and refused to let him go despite a second keeper's efforts to rescue him. The tiger was believed to be Abu, a male who attacked keeper Demetri Price in February, biting his knee until Mncube forced the animal to let go by pulling his jaws open and using a fire extinguisher to make him back off. 'I never got scared,' Mncube told the Herald at the time. 'You stay nice and calm. If I got scared and panicked we could have had two casualties ... it happened in a flash. It was over before we knew it.' Fellow staff at the park, which has more than 40 lions and tigers, were said to be traumatised and it was closed until further notice.

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