Jerusalem zoo still probing employee’s death, but won’t blame leopard for mauling

A leopard that killed an employee at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo after exiting its enclosure will not be put down, a zoo official said Sunday, as the park delayed its reopening following the deadly incident.

Zoo officials were still trying Sunday to piece together how one of two Persian leopards managed to leave its indoor enclosure and reach zookeeper Uriel Nuri, 26, as he prepared an enrichment activity in an outdoor yard.

Nuri was rushed a local hospital in critical condition and later died of his wounds.

While mourning the death, head zookeeper Ariel Kedem said employees did not blame the animal and had no plans to euthanize it.

“The leopard is in his shelter with the second leopard, they are being treated as usual,” Kedem told the Ynet news site. “It’s important to understand that animals act like animals. We don’t blame them or anything like that. These animals are in their habitats as normal.”

Zoos generally only kill their animals if they pose an immediate danger to people, often due to human negligence, and even then the killings sometimes provoke outrage. Some zoos have also been criticized for culling healthy animals due to overcrowding or other issues.

Last year, a crocodile at the Jerusalem zoo bit a worker, seriously injuring him. A security guard then shot the crocodile, which eventually succumbed to its wounds.

The zoo has been shut to visitors since Friday’s killing, but the site said over the weekend that it planned to reopen on Monday. However, on Sunday afternoon, the facility announced online that it would be closed Monday as well, without citing a specific reason.

Kedem said zoo staff were still investigating what went wrong, noting that there could be video of the incident, which had been witnessed by visitors.

“We’re just looking into what happened and sitting on it and really trying to understand what happened. It’s still early to say exactly what happened,” he told Ynet. “We also have cameras we are going over.”

There was no comment from police, which were also investigating the death.

In a statement immediately following the attack Friday, the zoo said Nuri had been killed during preparations for an enrichment activity featuring the leopard, which took place as part of a behind‑the‑scenes tour for visitors.

“A leopard managed to exit the leopard house into the inner yard and attack one of the zoo staff who was preparing the activity. At no point was there any physical danger to visitors, who stood protected behind a glass window,” the zoo said.

One visitor who witnessed the mauling said told Channel 12 that the leopard had been in the same area as Nuri the whole time.

“The leopard didn’t go through any door. He was in the yard the whole time. Uriel went into the cage. The leopard wasn’t indoors, he was outside all this time,” the woman said. “There was no space between the worker and the leopard. I was surprised to see the zoo’s response.”

The two Persian leopards were brought to Israel in January from a zoo in the Czech Republic.

In a Facebook post last month during Israel’s war with Iran, Nuri wrote about his dedication to his work even during times of emergency and posted a photo of himself feeding a leopard.