Lion was in holding cage before attack

[JI7]

The lion that killed an intern at a California sanctuary attacked her after escaping a holding cage while she was cleaning its pen, a coroner said Thursday.

Fresno County Coroner David Hadden said Dianna Hanson, 24, was talking on her phone while cleaning the pen at Project Survival's Cat Haven in Dunlap Wednesday afternoon when a 5-year-old male lion named Cous Cous lifted up the cage door with his paw, sneaked up behind her and broke her neck, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

She died almost immediately, but the big cat then played with her body "much the way a cat would play with a mouse," the coroner said.

"There were other scratch and bite injuries, which were all postmortem," he said. "The young lady did not suffer."

Sheriff's deputies then shot the lion to death because he would not give up Hanson's body. The lion had been at the refuge since it was 8 months old.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/03/07/Lion-was-in-holding-cage-before-attack/UPI-39151362639900/#ixzz2Mv9k15Bn

this is a sad story. many thought the intern had gotten into a cage with the lion purposely but that's not what happened. doesn't seem like the lion even intended to hurt the intern but thought it was playing with her.

[nolabear]

1. You can never, never, NEVER let your guard down when dealing with wildlife.

This isn't criticism or condemnation. I worked with wildlife for years. They are wonderful beyond belief. But they are wild. A prey animal can be triggered by all kinds of things, and a big cat instinctively jumps on things whose backs are turned. I feel terrible for the young woman and her family, and for the cat. It was an awful mistake.

[Control-Z]

2. He may have been

lying in wait (for more than four years) for the opportunity to get back at one of the humans holding him captive.

[nolabear]

3. No. It doesn't work that way.

Can't tell if you're serious but take it from me. It doesn't.

[Control-Z]

5. I was kidding.

If the cat were human, though, that is how it would have gone down.

[LisaL]

4. I think it's rather obvious the lion was intending to kill her when he broke her neck with its paw.

That's how they kill their prey sometimes.

[backscatter712]

7. The article's ambiguous, but I doubt the cat killed her with his paw.

Usually cats kill by biting their prey in the neck. They sink a fang right through the spinal cord.

Those of you with housecats that get outdoors might see them do this to mice.

[JI7]

9. i think they said she died from suffocation, the lion was on top of her

the dad was interviewed and he said he was told that his daughter's body didn't have much disfiguration.

[KT2000]

6. On the phone

I hope they insist that no one be talking on their phone when they are around the animals. Maybe she could have heard the latch opening or other noises.
She needed more training before being allowed to work alone.

There are things in life that need our undivided attention. For some reason, people think that telephone use distracts us.

[mazzarro]

11. Yes indeed - the dangers of inattentiveness

When someone is doing a dangerous job, attention should be focused on the job 100% all the time. Who knows whether or not she adequately secured the door to the cage or not. My bet is that she did not pay attention to all the required security measures before venturing into the holding pen.

[bluestate10]

13. An intern should never have been alone near an animal that is capable of killing.

And a second person should have had something that could control the animal. The article that I read stated that the people at the facility had no way of getting the lion off the woman until a cop showed up and shot it to death. A worker being in place and having a device that could render a powerful electric shock may have prevented a tragedy for the woman, her family and the lion.

[ellisonz]

8. Awful.

[moondust]

10. Her father and brother were on AC360 Thursday.

According to them, she had a lot of prior experience with big cats even though she was not yet allowed to enter the big cat cages at this facility when there were cats loose in them. Sounds like a tragic accident due to the holding cage not being fully latched or something.

[malaise]

12. Dianna Hanson was talking on her phone while cleaning the pen

I stopped there. How is this different than students walking across the road while talking on their phones oblivious to the fact that they have never seen a car in a hospital room. Darwin still rules.

[Javaman]

14. I will have to agree.

While there is a lot of blame to go around in the case, the holding pen not being properly secured, no additional personal on immediate hand to keep watch, etc but being on the phone while only feet from a dangerous animal only highlights another facet of our modern society that is for another conversation.

perhaps if she wasn't on her f'ing phone she may have had a chance, we will never know.