Carter, the zoo spokeswoman, said that on the afternoon of the attack, Konwiser was doing her daily chores.
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Western Mass News has learned that the zookeeper, Stacey Konwiser, who was killed by a tiger at a Florida zoo yesterday, was a graduate of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley. The exhibit has surveillance cameras but is closed to the public, Carter said.
Officials at the Palm Beach Zoo in Florida said: “This is the first death at the hands of an animal in the history of the Palm Beach Zoo”. “She was like a sister to many of us here”, Carter said, calling this a “tragic time”.
Steele said that “Konwiser had recently accepted a position with the FDA, looking at long-term career progression to get into U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. She dedicated her life to her mission of protecting tigers”. The Palm Beach Zoo now provides funding for the WCSs work and in return, sends staff to the field to participate in conservation activities – mainly centered around the Global Positioning System tracking of tigers. “While we will never speak with her again, her memory will live on”. She was an “expert” at dealing with animals and had also been called the “tiger whisperer” by the zoo spokesman Naki Carter. She refused to address claims made on the attraction’s Facebook page that the animal had been or would be euthanised. The Palm Beach Post reported that the tiger was recovering from being tranquilized on Friday. “Guests were never in danger”.
“This was her specialty, she loved tigers”, Carter said. Members of Palm Beach Zoo management met with staff early Saturday to mourn together.
“As long as employees are allowed to work in dangerously close proximity to tigers, elephants, and other risky animals, a significant risk of serious injury or death persists”, the group said in a statement, calling the 38-year-old’s death “preventable”.
“As a zoo family, we are grieving at this time”.
The Palm Beach County Zoo will reopen at 9 a.m. Monday morning, three days after a tiger keeper was fatally mauled by one of four Malayan tigers there.
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“Typically, zoo cats, that’s where they feel most comfortable”, Salmoni said on “Anderson Cooper 360”. It was not immediately clear what caused the tiger to attack her.
