May 27, 2009—A white tiger mauled and killed one of its keepers at a wildlife park in New Zealand Wednesday in front of visitors.

© 2009 National Geographic (AP)

Unedited Transcript

An animal keeper was mauled to death on Wednesday by a rare white tiger at the Zion Wildlife Gardens in New Zealand while visitors watched in horror.

The animal similar to this one was one of only about 120 white tigers in the world.

Park officials killed the animal when it would not let go of the victim.

South African national Dalu Mncube, seen here in a previous interview, was attacked after he and a colleague entered the cage to clean it.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Glen Holland, Zion Wildlife Gardens Manager: "This is an incredibly sad day for Zion Wildlife Gardens. Earlier today, one of the park's employees, our senior cat handler, was together with another handler in an enclosure busy cleaning with some white tigers, and the male white tiger attacked and killed the senior keeper at the site."

The victim died at the scene before help could reach him, with serious injuries to his abdomen and lower legs.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Glen Holland, Zion Wildlife Gardens Manager: "The staff are absolutely devastated by this. I cannot tell you, this is fantastic person. He is a personal friend and everybody is devastated by it clearly."

About 8 visitors who witnessed the attack were interviewed by police. (seen in video)

The park, located near the northern city of Whangarei, has 42 rare lions and tigers - four of which were white tigers kept in large wire-cage enclosures that include trees and grassy areas.

The attack at the park was the second by a white tiger this year. In February, an employee required surgery after he was attacked.

White tigers are not a subspecies of tiger, but the product of a recessive gene that creates the white coat. Breeding of white tigers is controversial, as critics maintain it serves no conservation purpose and many cubs die of birth defects associated with in-breeding.