Lions will kill you....
 

Tragic story on the local news....just north of me. Young recent college grad...two weeks at the animal "conservatory". A tragedy for all involved...but why the hell did "they" kill the lion afterwards? A conundrum for me...

The report I heard made it sound like they tried to tranquilize the lion and could not for some reason. They wanted to get to the lady ASAP to see if she was still alive and get her treatment if so. The lion was still in the way and they were not going to let the situation be a stalemate if she was alive and might live. In the end, just a sad resolution for all.

Was the lion's name Darwin?

Sammy, it was a new employee, two weeks on the job, with likely no real training that was killed, and someone else screwed up real bad. I would feel different if it was some "lion tamer" or circus performer of crappy road side attraction.

You are what you eat Sammy....some human screwed up....for sure.

Report I saw said the lion was shot to retrieve the dead body. I wasn't there....but I'd wager there was no chance...still tragic.

Don't get me wrong, I am not criticizing her for choosing this field of endeavor. I am only stating that it comes with risks and she should have known that fact and accepted those risks.
Just like the iron worker who gets a job working on high rise buildings or recruit who joins the military.

I spent most of my career working in an industry that is regarded as potentially dangerous,
I understood that and accepted that risk because if was worth the reward to be able to provide well for my family.
My wife and I discussed it and she understood.
I did everything I could to make it safe but God forbid if anything did happen, it wouldn't be a complete surprise and I would expect others to say that I knew what I was getting into.

We can't ask her that, but she likely was a real animal lover and wanted a career in the field. It was most likely some one ELSE that screwed up and let the lion into to the enclosure or did not have the right gate locked. Any normal zoo has strict safety procedures to prevent it, but humans screw up all the time when they get into a habit of repetitive tasks.

They will for sure investigate, and find what happened. Everyone will go into cover yer ass mode and some fines will be paid. Hopefully they will retrain all the employees, and implement better procedures. But she will remain dead.

One of the local colleges here has a curriculum for people interested in this field. It's called
Exotic Animal Training and Management, E.A.T.M. (eat'em). I guess it applies here. RIP.

This happened down here in Florida about 2 years ago, staff at zoo was mauled by a Tiger.

Tiger Kills Keeper Stacey Konwiser at Palm Beach Zoo

This should not be on the young woman at all. She was just doing her job. Sadly she becomes the headline. She probably turned a corner and a lion was standing there. At that point, she's dead. The proximate cause of what really happened needs to be identified. What circumstance or who specifically allowed the enclosure to be open. Carelessness, negligence, intentional by PETA (just throwing that in there) but now it will become muddied by the lawyers and public relations.

My cousin owns and runs an animal sanctuary in Mississippi. She rescues animals that idiots get when they are babies, then get to big for them to handle and are usually abused as well. She has lions, tigers, lepard, etc. Also bunchs of regular cats, dogs, horses. Even has some miniature horses including the worlds smallest.

She got her arm broke playing with one of the tigers then decided it was not a good idea to get in the enclosures with them. Said the big cat was not trying to hurt her, just didn't know it's comparative strength. They treat the big cats like they are house cats pretty much.

I'll go ahead and be the first one here to attribute at least some of the blame to what we call the "Bambi Syndrome". Far too many of us are raised on exceedingly false premises regarding wild animal behaviors and personalities. Even those who should know better, those charged with the professional care, study, and keeping of these animals sometimes succumb.

My heart goes out to this young lady's family. No one should have to go through what they must be going through. We all lose loved ones and can empathize with her family. While I have never experienced such, I rather suspect that losing one through some senseless, avoidable error might just be a bit more difficult. What a shame.

I have more sympathy for her and her family than the idiot that went to AK to live with the bears because he read it on the internet.

So sad. She was an intern, had only been there 2 weeks, almost certainly not her fault.

Yea, the fool that decided he could communicate to the bears and convinced his girlfriend to live in a tent with him. They both were eaten by a bear, and the audio tape is on the internet of them getting killed and eaten. Double Darwin winners there. Too bad the authorities killed the bear that ate them, doing what bears do in the wild.

In Canada we have the obligation (right) to turn down unsafe work. Based on this obligation, if this happened here, she would be 50% to blame.

Safety is everyone’s job. The employer has to ensure she is trained by a competent person, and she can’t put herself in harms way.

Of course since she was a young person, she is more likely to do dangerous chit trying to impress her bosses. The serious injury vs age plot is bimodal. Young people new to industry get hurt taking chances and trying to impress. Older experienced folk get hurt because of complacency.

It’s a tragedy regardless. Jobs in this field are highly sought after.

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