A zookeeper in Japan has been mauled to death by a rare white tiger but the killer beast wont be put down at the urging of the victims family.
The victim, 40-year-old Akira Furusho, was found mortally wounded and bleeding from the neck from the Monday night attack inside the animals cage at the Hirakawa Zoological Park in the southern city of Kagoshima.
Furusho was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Officials sedated the male tiger named Riku with tranquilizers before authorities arrived on the scene.
The tiger will be kept alive at the request of the victims family, according to the BBC.
We plan not to kill Riku and continue to keep it because the bereaved family asked us to do so, zoo official Takuro Nagasako told the AFP.