A zoo in southwest China is to pay a man 340,000 yuan in compensation a month after a tiger killed his six-year-old daughter when she was waiting to have her photograph taken with the animal.

 

"I have been talking with the zoo administrators and they have agreed to pay 340,000 yuan in one lump sum," said Mo Jicai, the girl's father.

 

The accident occurred on Feb. 22 at Kunming Zoo, in the capital of Yunnan province, when the girl, Mo Ruixin, was standing behind the tiger waiting to have her picture taken.

 

When the camera flashed, the tiger, from a circus that was performing in the zoo, suddenly turned and attacked the girl, biting her head, witnesses said. It was not the first time that tigers have attacked people in Kunming.

 

In October 2001, a woman worker at Kunming Zoo was killed by a Bengal tiger. In January this year, a tiger attacked a child at Kunming Wildlife Park, but zookeepers prized open the animal's mouth and saved the child.

 

"Nothing can compensate for the loss of my daughter. I hope the government can ban dangerous circus performances in case more people are hurt," said Mo, the father.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2007)