Lions maul worker to death as she went to clean cages at safari park, Crimea officials say

A group of lions mauled a zookeeper to death at one of Europe's largest big-cat parks on Wednesday after a door inside their enclosure was left unlocked, investigators in Crimea said.

The mauling occurred at the Taigan safari park on the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula, one of the largest breeding grounds for lions in Europe and home to around 60 of the predators.

"A criminal case has been opened over the death of an employee at the Taigan lion park as a result of a predator attack," the Moscow-installed Investigative Committee of Crimea and Sevastopol said in a statement.