The female zookeeper mauled to death by a tiger has been named as Rosa King.

Rosa, 33, was killed on Bank Holiday Monday when the big cat entered an enclosure she was working in.

Desperate colleagues were seen hurling meat towards the tiger in a bid to distract it but Rosa was declared dead at the zoo.

Her death has been described by devastated staff as a "freak accident".

A relative told the Sun : “She loved those animals - it’s absolutely tragic.

“She would walk in the cheetah cage and play football with them. She was at home with them.”

Pete Davies, 55, who was there with his partner and son, said: “We were at the tiger enclosure and there was a guy who was ahead of us with a camera taking photos of animals.

“He was in the next closure, he came running past us really quickly. Then he came back with a few zoo keepers to the viewing area of where the tiger was, and then we heard a girl screaming and another one said run to us so we found a small room and stayed there until it was safe to leave.