Unearthed photo of girl who fell into Dudley Zoo tiger den

Landscape gardener Mick Harvey, aged 59, has shared the photograph which he says fell out an old book.

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.

Mrs Routh said her 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.

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.

Mrs Constance Routh holding photo of the tiger den incident

Now, her son Mick who lives in Leeds, wants to locate the family of the girl to show them the photo.

He said: "It's their history. We take photographs for granted these days. That was just a snapshot in time.

"My grandad happened to be there with a camera at that time.

"There can't be many families out there that remember being told a story of the day their mother or grandmother fell down a cliff into a tiger den."

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