Dudley Zoo: Mystery remains over photo of girl who fell into tiger den

Mick Harvey from Leeds previously shared a rare photograph of the frightening moment a little girl found herself in the tiger den at the zoo, which he says fell out of an old book.

He shared it more than three years ago to try and track down the family of the girl, who was rescued from the den, to show them the photo.

But he said he's "surprised" that no one has come forward.

Before his 94-year-old mother Constance Routh died in 2019 she told him the story behind the photo - having witnessed the incident when she was 12 years old.

His family were living in Birmingham at the time and one day decided to visit the recently opened zoo.

The family had taken a picnic with them and sat down on the grass opposite the tiger den to have lunch.

They suddenly noticed a commotion coming from the enclosure. Mrs Routh said she saw a little girl tumble down the bank onto a concrete ledge and land next to a tiger cub, which is just visible on the photograph to her right.

Mrs Constance Routh holding photo of the tiger den incident (Image: Mick Harvey)

A much bigger concern was the huge tiger to her left on the same ledge. Mrs Routh seemed to think the little girl had squeezed through the railings, her son said.

Her father Harry Routh happened to be taking a photo of their picnic but turned his camera to focus on the tiger den instead.

According to Mrs Routh, a group of brave men climbed over the railings and formed a 'human chain' to reach the girl and pull her to safety.

Mr Harvey, aged 62, said: "It's an amazing story. Somebody out there must know or have heard who that person was or is. It's quite possible she's still alive - who knows?

"It would just be lovely to know what happened to her".

Mr Harvey says he previously contacted Dudley Zoo and the Dudley Museum about the historical incident, but they did not have any further information from their records.