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| This undated photo provided by Paul Hanson shows his sister, Dianna Hanson. Dianna Hanson, a 24-year-old intern at the Cat Haven in Dunlap, Calif., was mauled to death by a lion at the exotic animal park on Wednesday, March 6, 2013. |
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.
The
owner of 100-acre site in the Sierra Nevada foothills said Thursday
that safety protocols were in place but he would not discuss them
because they are a part of the law enforcement investigation. He, too,
is trying to determine whether they were followed.
"We
want to assure the community that we have followed all safety
protocols," Anderson said. "We have been incident-free since 1998 when
we opened."
Friends of Dianna Hanson recalled her passion for cat conservation.
"She
was lovely, energetic, athletic. She did everything she could to help
our conservation efforts," said Kat Combes of the Soysambu Conservancy
in Kenya, where Hanson recently had volunteered to work in the
Cheetah
Research Center.
For reasons still being
investigated, Dianna Hanson entered the enclosure of a male African lion
named Cous Cous on a day that Cat Haven, 45 miles east of Fresno, was
closed to the public.
The 4-year-old lion,
which had lived at the park since it was a cub, attacked Hanson and was
later shot by Fresno County sheriff's deputies who were trying to reach
her body.
Autopsy results revealed the
reddish-haired young woman died quickly of a broken neck, possibly from a
paw swipe by the 550-pound lion, and the numerous bites and scratches
she sustained were inflicted after she died.
"Which
means the young lady ... wasn't alive when the lion was tossing the
body about," said Fresno County Coroner David Hadden. "We think the lion
hit her with his paw and that's what fractured her neck."
Whether
Hanson ignored orders or was performing a function that placed her in
danger is being investigated by Cal-OSHA, which also is trying to
determine if employees were properly instructed about potential danger,
as required.
"There should have been
procedures that very clearly stated what the employees were required to
do in order to not get killed," said agency spokesman Peter Melton, who
added that documentation about the warning had not yet been provided by
Cat Haven.
In addition, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, which enforces the federal Animal Welfare Act, is also
looking to understand why the lion turned on the intern.
"We're
looking at whether the animal was acting in a manner leading up to that
situation that maybe the staff should have been aware of," spokesman
Dave Sacks said. "Was it being fed properly? Was it under undue stress?"
USDA
inspectors conduct multiple unannounced inspections of Cat Haven every
year and never had found a violation, Sacks said. Federal regulations
pertain only to animal treatment and do not "cover every single instance
of what a facility can and cannot do," he said.
A necropsy on the lion is being performed at the California Animal Health and Food Safety Lab in Tulare.
Cat
Haven breeds and keeps lions, tigers, jaguars, lynx and other exotic
cats and takes them out for public appearances. A recent television
report showed a reporter petting one of the animals. It does not hold
voluntary accreditation from the Association of Zoos & Aquariums,
said Senior Vice President Steve Feldman, or by the Global Federation of
Animal Sanctuaries. Both set standards for members.
"There
are very clear standards for care," said Adam Roberts of Born Free USA,
part of the federation. "Standards should not allow close contact with
humans. Frankly, facilities that don't comply with the federation's
standards are ripe for potential abuse and these kinds of problems."
By all accounts, Hanson loved contact with cats. In one photo on her Facebook page, a leopard is lying next to her leg.
Late
last year, she traveled to a preserve where she had volunteered in
Bellingham, Wash., and posted a photo of herself standing in a tiger
enclosure holding a stick as she was preparing to scratch the animal's
back.
"I was bending over to scratch her back
with my hand," she wrote under the photo. "You only touch them with your
hands ... one doesn't poke a tiger with a stick."
On
the same post, she expressed excitement about going to Cat Haven to
start an internship. "So be prepared for more kitty pictures with new
cats!" she wrote.
Hanson's family was taking some solace in that she died doing what she loved.
"She
was living her dream and pursuing her life's work to the fullest," Paul
R. Hanson, her brother, told the AP. "Upon completion of college she
set off to pursue her life's work of bringing awareness of the plight of
these magnificent animals through education and outreach."
In
a letter posted to family and friends, the woman who had graduated in
2011 from Western Washington University with a bachelor's degree in
ecology, evolution and biology talked about falling in love with exotic
cats. After meeting a Washington couple with four tigers, she was
hooked.
"For the last two and a half years I
have been learning how to care for these animals and come next February,
my father has given me a plane ticket" to Kenya, she enthusiastically
wrote, adding later: "As my mother can tell you, I have had the goals of
working with big cats since she adopted a tiger in my name when I was
7. I'm getting there."
