Family members of the young woman killed in a lion attack at a Central California animal park say they believe no rules were broken and the volunteer worker’s death was a tragic accident.
Investigators think the 550-pound male African lion lifted the door of a partially closed feeding cage with its paw and killed 24-year-old Dianna Hanson as she cleaned a bigger enclosure area Wednesday, Fresno County Coroner David Hadden has said.
Hanson died immediately from a broken neck, according to the coroner’s autopsy report. Other injuries were sustained after her death, the report states.
Family members say they’re relieved the young woman was killed instantly when the lion swiped or lunged at her at Cat Haven, a 100-acre private zoo run by the nonprofit group Project Survival.
“We’re thankful to know she didn’t suffer,” Hanson’s brother, Paul R. Hanson, told The Associated Press.
Family members said Friday they don’t believe it was a mauling, but rather a lion’s rough play that turned tragic.
“It sounds like it was an accident. Maybe the latch had not been completely closed. … You know, house cats are smart, they can open doors,” Paul Hanson said. “It wasn’t a vicious attack … because you would expect severe lacerations and biting on the neck and that was not the case.”
Paul Hanson and his wife Tiffany Windle-Hanson, who was the victim’s college roommate, believe the facility followed safety protocols.
“It was just a tragic accident,” Windle-Hanson said.
Investigators were focusing on the cage door that the 5-year-old animal managed to escape through to reach the volunteer intern.
“The lion had been fed, the young woman was cleaning the large enclosure, and the lion was in the small cage,” Hadden said. “The gate of the cage was partially open, which allowed the lion called Cous Cous to lift it up with his paw.”
Hadden said the lion then ran at Hanson.
The coroner said Hanson was talking with a co-worker on a cellphone in the moments before she was killed. The co-worker became concerned when the conversation ended abruptly and Hanson failed to call back. The co-worker then called authorities when she went to check on Hanson.
Family members say Hanson was actually using a walkie-talkie, which they understood to be the policy at the animal park.
“She wasn’t distracted, she wasn’t like that,” Windle-Hanson said. “It’s a safety protocol to have walkie-talkies there, which is important in case a situation like this occurs.”
Sheriff’s deputies shot Cous Cous after the animal couldn’t be coaxed away from Hanson’s body.
Hanson had been working for two months as an intern at Cat Haven.
Her father, Paul Hanson, described his daughter as a “fearless” lover of big cats and said her goal was to work with the animals at an accredited zoo. She died doing what she loves, he said.
Hanson’s Facebook page is plastered with photos of her petting tigers and other big cats. She told her father she was frustrated that Cat Haven did not allow direct contact with animals.
“Dianna had a tremendous respect for big cats. It’s something she wanted to do …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
The lion that killed an intern in a California animal park had escaped from its cage, and broke Dianna Hanson‘s neck while she was cleaning its outer enclosure, authorities say. “The gate of the cage was partially open, which allowed the lion called Cous Cous,” who weighed 550 pounds, “to…