ASSOCIATED PRESS Melati (right) walks with her previous mate Jae Jae at the zoo. London Zoo workers and visitors were devastated Friday after popular Sumatran tiger Melati was killed by a new male picked to be her mate. Melati, 10, was fatally mauled when she was introduced to the 7-year-old male, Asim, who had been brought to the zoo just 10 days ago from a Danish Safari Park, the BBC reported. They had shown “obvious positive signs,” and zookeepers believed the time was right to introduce the animals, said a statement by the zoo. “Zoo staff immediately implemented their prepared response, using loud noises, flares and alarms to try and distract the pair, but Asim had already overpowered Melati,” the zoo statement said.

Source: Huffington Post February 09, 2019 07:18 UTC