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A female Malayan tiger was killed by her intended mate at the San Diego Zoo.
Zookeepers hoped to introduce 4 1/2-year-old Tiga Tahun to her mate, Connor, on Saturday in an attempt to breed the endangered species, according to NBC San Diego. However, things took a violent turn when Connor attacked Tiga Tahun, who had been moved over to the San Diego Zoo from the Bronx Zoo earlier this year.
Two-year-old Connor grabbed Tiga Tahun by the neck, breaking her spinal cord, and cut off her breathing, according to U-T San Diego. He attacked her before zookeepers could stop him.
"It’s hard for us to know if he was a little too rough, there's just no way to know," Christina Simmons told U-T San Diego. "They were friendly, she was rolling on her back, they went into the breeding act and then at some point she was injured and died."
However, it's not unusual that breeding tigers is dangerous in nature. Connor is now the only Malayan tiger at the zoo, according to NY Daily News.
The mauling occurred between 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. when the park was closed; there were no visitors that saw the attack.
