Tips was killed by staff at Osnabrück Zoo, in Germany, after wandering into a lion compound.
Officials had feared she could harm the public and had temporarily evacuated 4,000 people from the animal park earlier today.
‘We reacted immediately with our team, and in order to protect the visitors, we had to shoot him,’ said Andreas Busemann, who runs the zoo.
The park’s director Dr Michael Boes said they were unable to use a tranquilizer dart because it would have taken too long to work (around 20 minutes).
The entrance to the zoo in Osnabruech, Germany (Picture: AP)
Eyewitness Sonja Mattke added: ‘The zoo made two loudspeaker announcements, one to warn that the bear had broken out, and a second to urge visitors to leave the animal park.’
Tips’ brother Taps was not killed after a zookeeper managed to get him back to his pen.
The bear was shot dead (Picture: AP)
Taps survived after being taken back to his pen (Picture: AP)
PETA expert Peter Höffken criticised the treatment of the animals.
He said: ‘Taps simply wanted to be free and paid for it with her life.
‘Further outbreaks or fatal accidents can only be prevented in the future if the animals are no longer confined to the sight of visitors.’
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