A 22-year-old newly-hired employee was attacked and killed by a lion after it escaped a locked space at a North Carolina animal center on Sunday, officials said.
A “husbandry team, led by a professionally trained animal keeper, was carrying out a routine enclosure cleaning” at the Conservators Center in Burlington when a lion left the locked space, went into the area where the humans were and killed Alexandra Black, the Caswell County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Black, 22, from New Palestine, Indiana, had worked at the Conservator Center for about two weeks, the sheriff’s office said.
She was a 2018 graduate of Indiana University, family members said, reported ABC Indianapolis affiliate WRTV.
Just arriving in Burlington – where a lion at the Conservators’ Center mauled a worker to death today. We’re being told the animal somehow left a locked area. The nonprofit is closed until further notice. #ABC11 pic.twitter.com/BmcWEsCcvT
— Elaina Athans (@AthansABC11) December 30, 2018
Personnel were unable to tranquilize the lion, named Matthai, so deputies shot and killed it so Black’s body could be retrieved, the sheriff’s office said.
The Conservators Center said in a statement it was “devastated by the loss of a human life.”
The Caswell Sheriff’s Office just now leaving Conservators Center – where a worker was killed today by a lion. The nonprofit, according to its website, is home to more than 80 animals including lions & tigers. #ABC11 pic.twitter.com/OtrPW88c2j
— Elaina Athans (@AthansABC11) December 30, 2018
It was not immediately clear how the lion escaped the enclosure, according to the center and the sheriff’s office.
The center is home to more than 80 animals and more than 21 species, according to its website.
The center said it will be closed until further notice.
This story is developing. Please check back for more updates.
from Just News Viral http://bit.ly/2AnAjT7
0 Comments