Here -Kitty - Kitty - Kitty..

[dales]

http://news.yahoo.com/death-lion-lover- ... 39643.html

I've been following this and it seems to me that if this young woman had the common sense that God gave a turnip, she'd be alive today.

DUNLAP, Calif. (AP) — A 24-year-old intern who was described by her father as a "fearless" lover of big cats ventured into a lion enclosure at a privately owned zoo and was mauled to death, prompting investigations by several government agencies that want to know how the accident happened.

Dianna Hanson, whose Facebook page is plastered with photos of her petting tigers and other big cats, was frustrated that the exotic cat zoo in California where she had worked since January did not allow direct contact with animals, her father told The Associated Press.

"She was disappointed because she said they wouldn't let her into the cages with the lion and tiger there," Paul Hanson, a Seattle-area attorney, said about Cat Haven, the site of the deadly mauling Wednesday.




<snip>

[Gob]

"She was disappointed because she said they wouldn't let her into the cages with the lion and tiger there,"

She's not disappointed any more.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Sanity claws?

[Gob]

Everybody knows....

[rubato]

"...

DUNLAP, Calif. (AP) — A 24-year-old intern who was described by her father as a "fearless" lover of big cats ventured into a lion enclosure at a privately owned zoo and was mauled to death,

A reminder that fearlessness is not per se a virtue:


"NOTHING can possibly be conceived in the world, or even out of it, which can be called good without qualification, except a Good Will. Intelligence wit, judgment, and the other talents of the mind, however they may be named, or courage, resolution, perseverance, as qualities of temperament, are undoubtedly good and desirable in many respects; but these gifts of nature may also become extremely bad and mischievous if the will which is to make use of them, and which, therefore, constitutes what is called character, is not good."

Kant



yrs,
rubato

[Guinevere]

Before you rush to judgment . . .

I was a keeper at the Baltimore Zoo hospital when I was 18 (and also big cat crazy). I did what this girl did -- feed, water, clean cages, and help with medications and treatments. We didn't have any African Lions in the hospital the year I was there, but we did have a pair of Mountain Lions. When we fed them, and cleaned their cages, we shuttled them over to another part of the cage and dropped a divider/gate that sealed them away from the keeper in a secondary enclosure. But we always had two of us for those cages (although I can't recall if we were both in the cage at the same time -- or if one cleaned and one fed/watched -- you feed those cats at the same time you clean, so they are distracted).

CNN is reporting this morning that's exactly what this girl did, but the lion escaped through the gate from the secondary enclosure and went after her (killing her instantly by breaking her neck, which is how they kill). Not sure there was anyone else feeding at the same time, though it appears there was another employee close by.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/07/us/califo ... ?hpt=hp_t2

I feel incredibly sad for all of them, the girl, her family, and the lion -- who was only doing what nature created him to do.

[Joe Guy]

I hate reading these types of stories. Someone does something that shouldn't be done and is attacked by an animal and so the animal is killed.

Around here in Redwood City, every now and then a mountain lion will be found wandering close to us "civilized" people's homes. The police come and kill them.

I know it's easier said than done, but there ought to at least be an attempt to tranquilize & trap them.

It seems as though those cops enjoy shooting animals. Any excuse to play with their guns....

[dales]

Just keeping RWC safe, joe.

[Guinevere]

Except there is no indication that the girl did anything she shouldn't have done.

[dales]

Perhaps she should have taken the time to make certain that the gate between her and the lion was secure?

[Lord Jim]

I know it doesn't sound fair some times, but once a wild animal has demonstrated a willingness to kill a human being (even if the human being is a complete jerk who brought it on himself like that idiot who got killed by a tiger at the SF zoo a few years ago,) there really is no choice but to put it down.

Having demonstrated a willingness to do this, the assumption has to be that the animal could do it again.

This is however, a little different:

Around here in Redwood City, every now and then a mountain lion will be found wandering close to us "civilized" people's homes. The police come and kill them.

In these cases, the animal hasn't actually killed anyone, just discovered an area where it can find easy meals....

I know that in areas of the country where bears are common, generally they are not destroyed just for wandering into human communities. They are tranquilized and then transported far, far into the remote areas of wilderness.

I would guess that Redwood City, (not really being a rural community where this sort of thing would be expected to happen regularly) may simply not have the expertise or set up for doing this kind trapping and relocation (Obviously the animals would have to be moved a considerable distance inland, given the population density on The Peninsula.)

Of course these situations wouldn't even be happening if we had a mountain lion hunting season, which would help to keep the numbers in check, so they wouldn't be expanding their ranges into densely populated areas. The re-institution of a responsible, limited, hunting program would manage the population without driving them back into "endangered" status. (Which in California they have now long not been.)

[Joe Guy]

Except there is no indication that the girl did anything she shouldn't have done.

Apparently she did something wrong or the cat wouldn't have been able to kill her.

[oldr_n_wsr]

Being an intern, I don't think she had the responsibility to make sure the lions were moved and secure in the other cage. I would guess, being low woman on the totem pole, her job was to clean the cage and nothiing else which was what she was doing when attacked.

As far as shooting the lion, the deputy was probably ltrying to rescue the girl and the lion would not back away. Most likely he didn't have a tranq gun and if the zoo had one it was probably minutes away, meanwhile this lion won't leave the victim and might have been gnawing on her.

[rubato]

Except there is no indication that the girl did anything she shouldn't have done.

The cage was not secure. Surely they have procedures which should be followed to make sure this does not happen.

yrs,
rubato

[Guinevere]

All of the reports to date have indicated that the girl secured the door properly, and followed the proper procedures, but the lion opened the door. Cats are smart like that, it is not unheard of.

[Joe Guy]

A door like that if secured properly cannot be opened by a cat. Smart cats are taken into account when those doors are designed.

The reports are worded in order to not indicate any blame on the girl for her own death.

That is understandable but also illogical.

[Gob]

It all now comes down to who should have ensured the lion was securely caged.

It had been put in a small cage to have the enclosure cleaned, whoever secured that is responsible for this girl’s death.

There is no way that a cage designed for securing the animal would have been able to have been opened by the big cat.

A California coroner says a lion that killed a volunteer at a big cat park used its paw to lift a partially closed door and escape from a feeding cage.

Fresno County Coroner David Hadden said investigators believe the lion then attacked and killed Dianna Hanson as she cleaned a larger enclosure.

The lion broke the 24-year-old intern's neck and she died almost instantly.

Police shot and killed the animal to reach her, believing Ms Hanson was severely injured but alive.

"The lion had been fed, the young woman was cleaning the large enclosure, and the lion was in the small cage," Mr Hadden explained, adding the cage door was partially open, allowing the lion to lift it up with his paw.

"He ran at the young lady.''

The coroner added that bite and claw marks found on her body happened after she died, after the lion broke her neck with a paw swipe