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Zoo director sentenced to pay compensation to tiger attack victim

The child's parents will pay 300,000 rubles
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS
Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

KHABAROVSK, July 2 (Itar-Tass) — A city court in Blagoveshchensk, the Russian Far East, has sentenced the director of a mobile zoo to pay 300,000 rubles to the parents of a three-year-old child attacked by a tiger.

Alexander Israelyan was sentenced under article 234 of the Russian Penal Code on charges of rendering services which don’t meet safety requirements and cause heavy damage to the health and life of visitors because of negligence, a court source told Itar-Tass on Monday.

A tiger attacked a three-year-old child at the Liger mobile zoo on January 4 this year. Alexander Israelyan allowed the visitors to take photos with the animals. The tiger which was on a chain but outside its cage attacked the boy. The child was rushed to hospital with an open brain injury, fractures of temporal and cervical bones as well as avulsed wounds from the bites.

Criminal proceedings were launched late in March.

Alexander Israelyan pleaded guilty and said he was ready to pay compensation to the child’s parents. He even offered his help in paying for the boy’s treatment.

The Liger zoo is currently on a guest tour in Yakutia. Israelyan who was debarred to leave Blagoveshchesnk before the trial will soon join his pets.