A ZOO WORKER has died after being attacked by a pack of wolves at a wildlife park in Sweden.

The 30-year-old woman was said by witnesses to have walked into the wolf enclosure at Kolmården Zoo around 11am yesterday morning before being surrounded by the animals.

Eight of them attacked her in the incident at the zoo, one of the country’s most popular wildlife attractions, the Independent reports.

Emergency workers were unable to reach the injured woman for some time, as she was still surrounded by the animals.

“You can’t just go into a pack of wolves. Police and ambulance staff couldn’t get close to the victim until later,” the district’s emergency co-ordinated said.

The zoo said that the employee had worked with the group of wolves since they were born, and was engaged in a routine visit to the enclosure meant to keep up contact with the animals, according to CNN.

All contact between wolves and people – both staff and visitors – has been stopped since the incident.

“We’ve noticed that we can no longer continue doing this. The risks are obviously too big to work in this manner, it’s going to be stopped,” zoo head Jan Roy said according to English-language Swedish news site TheLocal.