The poor white tigress, a 17-year-old Isabella was ripped to pieces when 2 lions sneaked to her cage. The killers--Sultan, 14, and Elsa, 11--are said to feel 'cage-sick' (just like homesick). That's why they tried to enter Isabella's cage (previously it's theirs! Yeah, yeah, I too don't understand the rotating system of cages that the zoo implemented.)
Two lions have torn an extremely rare white tigress to shreds after penetrating into her cage in a Czech zoo.
"Normally they live separately and can never come into contact with each other'' David Nejedlo, who runs Liberec zoological park, said.
According to Mr Nejedlo, the lions Sultan and Elsa beat the security system and managed to enter via a gate into the tigress Isabelle's cage.
The 17-year-old Isabelle, who gave birth to white tiger triplets in 1999, lasted just a few seconds in the unequal contest.
Hearing the animals roar, a breeder ran to the scene but came too late to help the tigress.
The zoo in Liberec is the only establishment in the Czech republic to breed the white tiger, of which only a few dozen remain in the world.
Isabelle was brought to Liberec in 1994 from the Swedish zoological garden in Eskilstuna.
In 1999 she gave birth to Artemis, Afrodita et Achilles.
The white tiger is the most emblematic animal in the Czech zoo, founded in 1919, and the local ice hockey team are nicknamed the "White Tigers of Liberec''.
From News.com.au, "Lions tear rare white tigress to shreds".
Two lions at a zoo in the northern Czech Republic have killed a rare white tigress after entering her enclosure.
The incident happened at Liberec Zoo - the only one in the country which has white tigers.
Zoo workers were alerted by the cries of the tigress, but were unable to stop the killing.
White tigers - the result of a recessive gene - find it difficult to catch prey in the wild because their colouration stands out in the jungle.
The lions - Sultan, aged 14, and Elsa, 11 - managed to open a trap door leading to an open-air area occupied by the 17-year-old tigress, Isabella.
Surviving daughter
Lions and tigers in the zoo share the same pavilion overnight, which they leave for separate open-air enclosures during the day.
But the open-air enclosures are rotated, and zoo authorities believe the lions were trying to get into the area where they had spent the previous day.
"The current security system has been in place for 12 years and such an accident has never happened before," said zoo director David Nejedlo.
There are three surviving white tigers at the zoo, including Isabella's daughter.
The zoo is the oldest in the Czech Republic and was established in 1919.
From BBC, "Lions kill rare white tiger at Czech Republic zoo".
A rare white tiger has been savaged to death by two lions who forced their way into her pen at a zoo.
Helpless keepers watched in horror as the lions slaughtered 17-year-old Isabella in seconds.
The killer cats, Sultan, 14, and 11-year-old Elsa, prised open a heavy metal trap door to get into Isabella's enclosure.
Keepers at Liberec Zoo in the Czech Republic heard the attack and ran to the scene but could do nothing to stop it.
Luboa Melichar of the zoo said: "We tried to distract the lions but it was hopeless.
"Afterwards, we had to wait as one of the lions stood over the tiger long after she had died."
The lions and the white tigers take turns to use the openair enclosures at the zoo and keepers believe Sultan and Elsa wanted to get back to the pen they had been in the day before.
When they got in and saw Isabella, their instinct told them she was invading their territory.
The zoo have three surviving white tigers. One of them is Isabella's daughter.
Only a few dozen white tigers are left in the wild.
From Daily Record, "Lions sneak through trap door at zoo to kill rare tiger".
