Bear kills teen zookeeper at Sweden wildlife park

A 19-year-old zookeeper has been mauled to death by a bear at a wildlife park in Sweden.

The tragic incident occurred at the Orsa Rovdjurspark, in the central county of Dalarna, on Friday.

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The two-year-old brown bear reportedly managed to dig its way back into its enclosure when the zookeeper was cleaning it.

The bear was shot dead after the attack, and the man was treated at the scene but later died of his injuries.

The attack took place while the zoo was preparing for a special activity for guests in which they can go into the enclosure with a zookeeper.

Officers are investigating whether proper safety procedures were followed, reports the BBC.

According to the Local, the park's head, Sven Brunberg, said: ""First and foremost I want to say that this is a difficult day. I'm thinking about my colleague and his family a lot.

"It started out as a normal day, a family had booked the activity and normal routines were followed. I'll leave it to the police to work out what went wrong."

Orsa Rovdjurspark describes itself as "Europe's largest predator park" and has bears, tigers, leopards and wolverines among its animals.

According to Sky News, back in 2012, a female employee at the Kolmarden Wildlife Park, south of Stockholm, was killed by a pack of wolves she had helped to raise.

The park was later fined four million kronor (£376,000) for negligence, and a former manager at the park was found guilty of manslaughter by breaching Swedish workplace safety laws.