Police have killed a tigress in a zoo in east China after she killed a keeper who was trying to clean her cage.

The keeper, surnamed Zhang, was in his 60s and worked at the zoo in Renmin Park, Xinyi city, Jiangsu Province, forgot to drive the tigress into an inner cage before entering the outer cage, said colleagues.

He was mauled by the tigress at around 2:00 PM on Monday.

A tiger and a tigress were in the outer cage. According to standard operations, Zhang should have driven both into the inner cage before entering, but he only drove the tiger in, workers said.

Police immediately evacuated tourists and park workers after the tragedy.

As the zoo's only tranquilizer gun was inside the cage and could not be reached, police shot dead the tigress to prevent more casualties.

(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2007)