Escaped lion kills 22-year-old worker at NC preserve before being shot, officials say
A lion that escaped its enclosure and killed one person Sunday at a North Carolina preserve was fatally shot, according to a news release from the Conservators Center.
Officials with the Conservators Center said in the release that the lion was shot and killed to let emergency responders get the person who had been attacked.
The victim was identified as Alexandra Black, WTVD reported. The 22-year-old from New Palestine, Indiana, had worked at the center for about two weeks.
In the news release, the Conservators Center said it was “devastated by the loss of a human life.”
“This is the worst day of my life. We’ve lost a person. We’ve lost an animal. We have lost the faith in ourselves a little today,” Conservators Center Executive Director Mindy Stinner said, according to WTVD.
The lion escaped during a “routine cleaning” of its enclosure by “a professionally trained animal keeper,” officials said in the news release.
After escaping, officials said the lion “quickly killed a person,” according to the news release.
The Caswell County Sheriff’s Office said attempts at tranquilizing the lion, named Matthai, were unsuccessful, and deputies used deadly force to retrieve Black’s body, ABC News reported.
There is no word how the lion escaped the “locked enclosure,” but an investigation is underway, per the news release.
Black’s family released a statement saying “She was a beautiful young woman who had just started her career, there was a terrible accident, and we are mourning. But she died following her passion,” WRAL reported.
The Conservators Center is located in Burlington, N.C., according to its website. It was founded in 1999 in Mebane, and relocated to a 45-acre site in Caswell County in 2001, where it currently is home to more than “80 animals, and ... 21 species,” per the website.
By 2004, the animal population included more than 30 lions and tigers, the center reports on its website, adding it has more than a dozen employees.
The center is “closed until further notice,” according to the news release.
News release on deadly lion attack
“The Conservators Center is devastated by the loss of a human life today. While a husbandry team led by a professionally trained animal keeper was carrying out a routine enclosure cleaning, one of the lions somehow left a locked space and entered the space the humans were in and quickly killed one person. It is unclear at this time how the lion left the locked enclosure. The lion was shot and killed to allow Caswell County personnel to retrieve the worker. This is an ongoing investigation, we have no further details at this time, and the family has not yet been notified. We will offer more information as we know more. The Conservators Center will be closed until further notice.”
Source: The Conservators Center
This story was originally published December 30, 2018 at 3:46 PM with the headline "Escaped lion kills 22-year-old worker at NC preserve before being shot, officials say."
