Stacey Konwiser, 38, was killed April 15 when a 13-year-old Malayan tiger attacked her in a secured area where the tigers eat and sleep.
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Earlier this week, police said they were investigating a threat against the tiger after receiving a threatening phone call, according to the Palm Beach Post.
The Florida zookeeper who was fatally mauled by a tiger last week broke protocol by entering the animal’s enclosure, NBC News reported.
“This was part of a daily procedure that takes place, this was something that was done every single day”.
“There was nothing out of the norm as far as what she was conducting at that time”, Carter said.
A senior zoo keeper was mauled inside the tigers’ night house.
“Our policy states that zookeepers are never to enter into an enclosure when a tiger is present or has access to the enclosure”, he said in a statement.
“There is absolutely no mystery as to how Stacey Konwiser died”, Aiken wrote.
“Why or how this could possibly occur is the subject of five ongoing investigations, including our own”, Aiken said.
The zoo said the afternoon that Konwiser entered the enclosure, she was alone, which is in compliance with the nationalized standards from the Association of Zoos & Aquariums.
Konwiser had worked at the zoo for three years and according to zoo officials was “very experienced” with tigers. Konwiser was later airlifted to St. Mary’s Hospital in West Palm Beach where she was pronounced dead.
“Once she started to struggle or moved quickly, that tiger’s primal hunter instinct would have then come into play”, he said.
He said the tiger was never outside its enclosure or the animal containment portion of the night house. The tiger was tranquilized and has since recovered.
Zoo officials have declined to provide information on the tiger, including its name. The Malayan tiger program at the zoo is aimed at breeding the tigers in a bid to help protect this animal from extinction. All of these animal “encounters” have been temporarily suspended, but the zoo expects to resume all talks, tours and encounters at an appropriate time, Aiken said.
“We stand by our decision to tranquilize”, Friday’s statement said, adding that zoo officials had to consider employee safety, the size of the space the animal and victim were in, and whether the bullet might ricochet. However, zoo CEO Andrew Aiken claims that the knowledgeable zoo keeper did something unexplainable when she entered the big cats night house the day of her death.
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The statement from the zoo said that surveillance cameras were set up in the enclosure where Konwiser was attacked, but they weren’t on because they are only used when the zoo is monitoring newborn cubs.
