The morning of May 17 quickly turned into a nightmare for the staff and patrons of a Chinese zoo, when authorities had to shoot a lion who had attacked a zookeeper.

Xinhua news agency reported May 17 that a lion at the Tai'an Tiger Mountain Park, on the same day at 6:20 a.m. local time, attacked a zookeeper who entered his cage for cleaning. The report said that the lion, who also escaped its cage, was shot dead by the police for public safety.

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BBC News said that officials of the zoo installed steel barriers at the park's entrance as the lion was out loose in the zoo for over an hour. According to reports, there were already tourists in the area who went for a swim in a pond in the zoo.

It was also reported that the man, 65 years of age, died at a hospital after suffering from bites on his shoulders and neck.

According to a Youth.cn reporter, a single gunshot was fired at around 8 a.m., which was followed by "continuous gunfire" for 10 minutes. It is unclear from the various news reports how the lion in the east China zoo escaped and if the zookeeper followed protocol on cleaning the cage.

BBC News reported that an expose of the zoo in 2014 by Iqilu.com revealed that some of the "rusty and rotting" cages were in "serious disrepair" that evidently posed as a safety issue for both animals and people visiting and working at the zoo.

AFP reported that there is an ongoing investigation regarding the incident and that the attack is the second zookeeper death in 2015. In March, a similar incident involving a zookeeper cleaning a tiger's cage happened in a zoo in the Jiangxi province.

The Tai'an zoo is located in the western Shangdong province and is a favorite tourist spot because of Mount Tai.

Tagschina zoo, lion attacks in China, Tai'an Tiger Mountain Park, East China