diff --git a/src/libxml2_loader.cpp b/src/libxml2_loader.cpp
index c82f379b8..7bf0014b3 100644
--- a/src/libxml2_loader.cpp
+++ b/src/libxml2_loader.cpp
@@ -151,6 +151,7 @@ namespace mapnik
                 }
 
                 populate_tree( root, pt );
+                xmlFreeDoc(doc);
             }
 
         private: