Posted on 04/16/2016 4:58:39 AM PDT by HomerBohn
PALM BEACH, Fla. _ An employee at the Palm Beach Zoo died in a Malayan tiger attack while performing a routine procedure Friday afternoon, a zoo spokeswoman said.
Zoo officials confirmed tiger handler Stacey Konwesier was killed Friday by a tiger.
Zoo spokeswoman Naki Carter said Konweiser was preparing a male tiger for a show at the zoo called "Tiger Talk" just before 2 p.m. when the attack happened.
Konweiser, a three-year veteran of the zoo and tiger expert, was doing normal procedural actions with the tiger when it attacked her. Her husband also works for the zoo.
"Stacey was an expert," Carter said. "She dedicated her life to her mission of protecting tigers."
The male tiger was quickly subdued, allowing officials to reach the woman. She was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center, where she died.
"This is a family who is in mourning right now," Carter said of the zoo employees. "We all, myself included, doubled over. We're a close-knit group here at Palm Beach Zoo. There were tears."
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will be investigating the death. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and grief counselors were at the zoo.
"It's very new and all the details are still coming in," said Carol Lyn Parrish, spokeswoman for the wildlife commission. "Because it's an active investigation for us, we are not releasing any information."
Malayan tigers are "an endangered species _ less than 250 in the wild. Four live here at Palm Beach Zoo," Carter said.
Zoo keepers help breed the tigers to make sure they don't go extinct, Carter said. "So that's what was going on with this keeper here today, and this is just an unfortunate situation," she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
Don’t worry.. per the article “The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was also investigating.”
even more interesting that it is posted under ‘comedy zone’.
So what?
The nasty comments on this thread, not least by you, are not taking aim at sentimental attempts to humanize animals. They are a shameful and depraved celebration of a woman’s terrible death. They are vile and cannot be sanitized by disingenuous post hoc rationalizations.
I thought I had accidentally clicked on DU with all these mocking posts on someone’s death. If these posters rally are conservatives, they are the ones who give us all a bad name. Death comes for us all, and she was someone’s wife and daughter, so one should respect that if nothing else and keep their witless remarks to themselves.
***Konweiser, a three-year veteran of the zoo and tiger expert, was doing normal procedural actions with the tiger when it attacked her. Her husband also works for the zoo.***
“Stacey was an expert,”
Sixty years ago we were taught in school..”FAMILIARITY breeds contempt.”
In simple words, knowing how to do something over and over you soon lose the ability to see danger.
Why was the tax day extended to the 18th?
Mine were done weeks ago
****************
BTW, catching Al Capone is an ordinary criminal justice act.
Working hands on with an endangered tiger subspecies is making a difference where it counts in the world of misguided women
Poor woman. Wild animals can be unpredicable. Her family must be heartbroken.
It was extended to the 18th because the 15th was a Washington DC holiday this year, and the IRS had it off. Or so I was told. I volunteer doing taxes, and will be doing them for the next three days.
“These people just want to “pet” etc. the animals. They think they are “special”, because they get to do what the rest of us wouldn’t or can’t. It’s like making a land area off limits to the public so that only the liberals can go there for “study”.
In this case it’s a dangerous game. Is your life worth this ego trip? I guess they would say yes.
So, do I feel sorry for her? Not in the least. She was being STUPID. Am I wrong? Would you go into a tiger’s lair to “interact” with it? Would that not be stupid?
“..... performing a routine procedure.....”
“.......was doing normal procedural actions......”
WITH A TIGER? Routine? NORMAL? These “people” are not “normal”.
This reminds me of Grizzly Man, Timothy Treadwell. Just doing what he loved...... (stuck on stupid)”
I think you are being too harsh here. Although I do not know the woman’s qualifications it does not sound like she was some hippie who just wanted to pet the tiger. She may very well have been a professional zoologist trained in the care, maintenance and well being of captive big cats including endangered species. Is it “stupid” to work with dangerous animals? Not at all if you are well trained. Just like its not stupid to race a car around a track at 200 mph or work construction on a sky scraper. There are dangers but they can be mitigated (not eliminated). I personally worked with organisms that killed millions more people than tigers ever have. There are dangerous jobs that
require skill and need to be done. This woman’s passion was big cats and part of her job was communicating to the public about them. She wasnt like that idiot Treadwell who thought the Grizzlies were his friends.
The book is so much better than the movie. I was excited to go to the theater and left thinking how Hollywood had ruined another great story.
“The most competent person I ever saw working with tigers was Gunther Gebell Williams with Ringling Bros. fantastic.”
I saw that act years and years (and years) ago.
They need to have someone on over-watch with a big gun any time a person is in the vicinity of a big cat.
I don’t care how “endangered” the animal is, people win hands down.
#HumanLivesMatter for those who live by the hash-tag.
No doubt the posters were somewhat surprised that some one would paint their face to resemble a tiger and then get in the cage with one awaiting his luncheon.
From Alabama News (AL.com) - Emancipation Day – set aside to commemorate the signing of the Emancipation Act by President Abraham Lincoln – is celebrated in Washington, D.C. It is observed on April 16, which just so happens to fall on Saturday this year. Emancipation Day is a legal holiday in D.C. with city workers off the job. Since this year’s holiday is on a Saturday, it will be observed on the closest weekday, which falls on April 15, moving the tax deadline to the next Monday on April 18.
They should should come here and have a few chuckles with some of the morons here mocking her death.
I hear you. I hope that none of her family chances upon this thread.
All big cats are the apex predators of their territories.
Their territories are where they live.
They perceive any intrusion into their territory as either food or a challenge.
Food is killed and eaten, challengers are killed.
Not their fault, just the way GOD wired them.
My condolences to the family of the lady, but no one is an expert when it comes to four footed or two footed predators.
I agree, I was really in the mood for it when I watched it. Really good story and two great actors pulled off the characters perfectly.
I have absolutely no clue what your point is.
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