The press release said it took a few seconds for the male to let go of the tigress. It said a veterinarian immediately examined the injuries, but they appeared to be barely life-threatening. "We are all deeply shocked," said zoo director Mirko Thiel. "That something like this can happen is known to everyone who works with wild animals. But after the signs of the last weeks, we really did not expect such a course of events.“

Shortly after Kimberly's arrival in November, the cat had still been very nervous and had behaved rather defensively and aggressively towards the eight-year-old male cat. The two tigers were separated by a grid at the time. Ivo, on the other hand, had approached Kimberly from the beginning and had fought with the lattice several times. But already before Christmas the relationship had changed on the part of the cat into the positive.

When the two tigers were now brought together, a team of animal keepers, the zoo management and a veterinarian specialising in big cats were ready to intervene in case of emergency. Immediately after the lattice between the two tigers was opened, Ivo had rushed aggressively towards Kimberly and attacked her.

During the medical examination bite wounds were sewn. Vital organs did not appear to be injured, however. The zoo explicitly points out that despite this sad outcome, no one can be blamed. The animals were intensively observed, the reunion thoroughly planned and also the separation attempts by the animal keepers on site after the attack had taken place quickly.

Already in November, when Kimberly moved from Magdeburg to Neuwied, the zoo noted that it would have to be seen whether the two big cats could live together permanently.

(Original text: Britta Röös, Translation: Mareike Graepel)