BEIJING, Nov 16 (AFP) - Police in northeast China shot dead two starving Siberian tigers after the animals severely mauled a zoo worker, state media said Monday.

The incident occurred on Friday at a wildlife park in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province, the Global Times reported.

The two tigers attacked 51-year-old park worker Yang Jingwei as he was cleaning snow from a path in a staff-only area, the paper said.

"The attack is attributed to the tigers being starved," the paper said, citing financial difficulties at the zoo.

Zoo workers separated the tigers from Yang 15 minutes after the attack began, the report said. The animals were shot and killed when police arrived at the scene.

Yang was seriously injured, suffering lacerations to the head, neck, hands, arms, legs and part of his face, it said.