Palm Beach lead keeper Stacy Konwiser was attacked by an endangered tiger.
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A woman who was killed last week in a tiger attack at the Palm Beach Zoo died of a neck injury, Palm Beach County’s chief medical examiner told Local 10 News.
In a statement read to WPTV.com, Zoo spokeswoman Naki Carter said: ‘This is an ongoing investigation.
Friday night’s statement by Andrew Aiken, the zoo’s president and chief executive, is his first since Stacey Konwiser, 37, was killed by one of the four Malayan tigers on display at the zoo in West Palm Beach.
The Palm Beach Zoo is asking that the media not identify the tiger responsible for Konwiser’s death, saying it could jeopardize the animal’s safety. I’ve received a lot of requests about the Malayan Tiger that received the threat.
The zoo opted to tranquillise the tiger instead of shooting to kill.
From her previous stint at the Living Desert Museum and Zoo, Stacey Konwiser transferred and started working at the Palm Beach Zoo three years ago. But he said they are still unpredictable and any tiger will attack. The Zoo has no interest in assisting, allowing or encouraging blame on one of only 250 Malayan tigers remaining in existence.
Stacey Konwiser, 38, died Friday after she was injured by a male Malaysian tiger in the night house where tigers sleep and eat. ‘These attacks, and scenarios where an animal escapes, have also resulted in the deaths of over 128 big cats_many of whom were endangered species, ‘ the group said. In 2008, a tiger bit a keeper’s finger to the bone while she was hand-feeding the animal. Hati came to the zoo last year after spending many years at Zoo Miami.
The Palm Beach Zoo’s facilities, procedures and Konwiser’s actions the day she was killed are being investigated by agencies including the West Palm Beach Police Department, The US Department of Agriculture, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
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The Animal Legal Defense Fund says the zoo keeper’s death was preventable and urged federal authorities to impose penalties against the zoo. “It’s so hard for people to really understand that they are tigers, and Hati was no different”.
