Volunteer keeper lost her life today...

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DeanS

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Edna said:
DeanS said:
I hope they do a drug test on her blood...assuming there's any left. I'd be curious to know if she was under the influence of anything!

DeanS, your comments reveal an incredible degree of insensitivity to the tragic loss of human life. I get that you value animal life over human life, and I get that you have no inhibitions about blaming the victim. Still, you wouldn't have to be mean-spirited about it.

You're wrong! I'm incensed at F&G for killing an animal in its own secure turf! I feel for the family because they lost a daughter, sister, etc. Insensitive?!?! Maybe at the incompetence exhibited in (not) securing the lion properly. The drug test comment is a curiosity...nothing more! The 'mean-spiritedness' is directed at F&G...not at the victims.

For the record, I do not value animal life over human...in this case, I just found the killing of an animal unnecessary.
 

kanalomele

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I am very sorry for my fellow forum members who knew this volunteer, lion and keeper. It is a terrible terrible tragedy and the loss of life deeply saddens me.
 

Laura

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Sherrifs dept did the killing. They do not carry tranquilizer drugs or guns. Even Fish and Game have them in lock up in an office.. it would have taken a long time to get it there to be used. and even then, it doesnt always work. Dale is not blaming the sherrif dept. They did what they had to do. There was no way of getting to Dianna with cous loose in the enclosure. Very Tragic. Im glad it wasnt Dale who had to do the shooting.. He would have, if it was needed, but best he didnt.. its hard enough for what happened.
They did try to lock up cous but it didnt work. she did not bleed out, she had very few marks on her. The enclosure is on a hillside. The lock ups are at the top. There are stairs at the top. The keeper walks down those stairs to clean the enclosure. I can only assume, that she fell off those stairs. surprised, ran, was jumped? we may never know.. but that fall is probably what broke her neck. Cous was not eating her, or attacking her. Curious and playing? maybe... Investigation still going on... I know what the enclosure design is and of couse I am speculating myself as to what happened. I dont, however, know the door system and types of locks or latches.. the female lion was locked up.. the male somehow wasnt, or got out or?
 

jaizei

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DeanS said:
Edna said:
DeanS said:
I hope they do a drug test on her blood...assuming there's any left. I'd be curious to know if she was under the influence of anything!

DeanS, your comments reveal an incredible degree of insensitivity to the tragic loss of human life. I get that you value animal life over human life, and I get that you have no inhibitions about blaming the victim. Still, you wouldn't have to be mean-spirited about it.

You're wrong! I'm incensed at F&G for killing an animal in its own secure turf! I feel for the family because they lost a daughter, sister, etc. Insensitive?!?! Maybe at the incompetence exhibited in (not) securing the lion properly. The drug test comment is a curiosity...nothing more! The 'mean-spiritedness' is directed at F&G...not at the victims.

For the record, I do not value animal life over human...in this case, I just found the killing of an animal unnecessary.
 

Tom

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Hmm... Still no definitive answers about what happened. I'd still like to know what went wrong.
 

AZtortMom

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Agreed.. Just read the whole thread
 

Laura

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I haven't posted all the articles...
what do you want to know? Dianna made a human error... a crucial gate was left open,, and she paid for it with her life and that of Cous, the lion.
He did not maul her, or eat her. She somehow fell and broke her neck... Did the lion jump her? did she fall accidently and he saw that and went out the open gate? did she try to get away or back to safety and fell off the stairs? That we will probably never know... did he have contact with her,,, yes.. but he didn't 'maul' her.
She was not on her cell phone, the lion didn't open a faulty gate.
A crucial safety gate was some reason left open... it was a fatal mistake..
Like running a stop sign... sometimes it turns out ok, and no one is hurt.. sometimes an accident occures and people die.
 

Tom

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What did the autopsy list as the COD? Broken neck? Were there teeth marks on her neck? Head trauma that would be incurred if she fell hard enough to break her neck?

Who left the gate open?

Its a pretty big stretch that she accidentally fell on the day the gate was left open and the lion just happened to be out. I was hoping for some details that I might learn from other than lock your gates and double check them before entering the enclosure.
 

mctlong

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Tom said:
Its a pretty big stretch that she accidentally fell on the day the gate was left open and the lion just happened to be out.

Agree. She accidentally fell and broke her neck in a cage with a grown male lion whose species primary way of killing their prey (in preparation of eating it) is to knock it down and bite and break its neck? Uh... yeah. I don't buy that she accidentally fell down and broke her neck.

To me, this all seems very clear. There was an issue with the gate (either mechanical or human error), the lion's instincts kicked in, it jumped and killed this girl. Its what lions do. No amount of taming and training can remove this instinct from lions. Dale understood that. This is why the safety protocols were in place. This is why he no longer took Cous Cous on those daily walks. I think its pure fantasy to imagine that this lion did not intentionally kill this intern in this situation.
 

Yvonne G

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When the coroner (?) was interviewed about the autopsy he said she died of a broken neck. It was surmised that the lion gave her a big swipe with his paw, probably playing with her, and broke her neck. There were a few minor scratches, but nothing to say that the lion mauled her or tried to eat her. It is assumed that she either didn't close the door properly or left it open.
 

ascott

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When the coroner (?) was interviewed about the autopsy he said she died of a broken neck. It was surmised that the lion gave her a big swipe with his paw, probably playing with her, and broke her neck. There were a few minor scratches, but nothing to say that the lion mauled her or tried to eat her. It is assumed that she either didn't close the door properly or left it open.

Enough said, good grief. There will never be any way to know what exactly happened....but a ton of speculation. One human paid with her life and one Lion paid with his. End of story.

Also, sometimes the simplest mistake is the second that changes everything....neither here nor there once the path is laid.
 

Tom

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I disagree Angela. I work with these animals regularly and if I can learn something from someone else's misfortune or mistakes that will help me avoid the same fate, I will attempt to do it. I mean no insult to anyone, and don't intend to hurt feelings, but the specifics here meant life or death, and one day they could mean life or death for me or Laura too.
 

ascott

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I work with these animals regularly

Tom, you know and fully accept the risk you choose to take each and every time you are in contact with a predator capable of causing great injury or death....this is a risk that you choose to take, as is with any other person that makes that same choice.....Not the choice of the forced captive animal.

If an error was made on this keepers part, she may have never even realized it....if there was faulty locks, she may have never even realized it....until it was, well, too late.

No amount of "speculating" will ever show exactly what happened---so speculation can only lead to a guess of the events of that fatal encounter....therefore, no guaranteed knowledge gained.....and I also mean no insult to anyone...
 

Tom

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I agree with all of the above. I do not wish to speculate or guess. I would like to know EXACTLY what happened. I believe that with the facts found in the investigation, the autopsy report, and eyewitness statements we can get a pretty good picture of exactly what did happen, and that's what I'm after here. I do it with all of these incidents. Usually I know the people involved and just call and ask them, but in this case, I don't know the guy or the facility. Whenever something bad happens, I feel a sense of duty to learn from it. Am is take was made and a tragedy happened because of it. The least we can all do is learn what happened and work to ensure it never happens again.
 

EllieN

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The whole thing's tragic. It sounds to me like they couldn't be sure the young lady was dead, and they couldn't reach her to determine that and/or give her aid, with the lion still in the enclosure, so they had to shoot him. I have to believe that if they'd known for sure she was already dead they might not have rushed to kill the lion.
 
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