The 22-year-old intern who was killed by a lion at a North Carolina wildlife education centre was following her greatest passion when tragedy struck, her family says.
Alexandra Black was attacked on Sunday (local time) at the Conservators Center in Burlington as she helped with a routine cleaning of the cat’s enclosure.
“She was a beautiful young woman who had just started her career, there was a terrible accident, and we are mourning,” her aunt Virginia Black told NBC News. “But she died following her passion.”
The centre said in a statement that Black was part of a team led by a professionally trained animal keeper, and that the animals are moved into a separate, locked space before humans enter their enclosures for cleaning.
The specifics of how the lion managed to leave the secured space are still under investigation.
“We are a close-knit family of paid staff and volunteers and are devastated by the loss of this vibrant, smart young woman,” the centre said in a statement. “Alex had undertaken multiple internships, the most recent of which was at Wolf Park in Battle Ground, Indiana. Her family has asked for those who would like to honor her memory to consider donating to Wolf Park, and we echo that request here.”
Black, an Indiana native, was a May graduate of Indiana University, and had only been working in North Carolina for 10 days prior to her death.
The escaped lion, named Matthai, was shot and killed after numerous attempts to tranquilize him in order to retrieve Black’s body. He was 14 years old, and had been at the centre since birth.
“The stress level was high,” Sheriff Tony Durden told WRAL-TV. “I know they’re not used to having a 600-pound animal. And then having a young lady laying on the ground, so, you know, stress.”
Mandy Stinner, the co-founder and executive director of the Conservators Center, said at a news conference that visitors were evacuated promptly following Matthai’s escape, and that he never left the zoo’s perimeter.
“This is not a situation we’ve ever had before. Safety is a very, very important feature of running any zoological park,” she said.
The Conservators Center, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2019, remains closed as the investigation continues.
The incident echoes that of a Christmas Day attack in 2007, when a female Siberian tiger escaped from her open-air enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo and killed a 17-year-old visitor.
Police later said the cat, who also injured a pair of brothers, appeared to have leaped or climbed over the walls of her enclosure.
Meanwhile, a lion also escaped an enclosure at the Jacksonville Zoo in October after a zookeeper failed to close a door between the exhibit and a surrounding enclosure.
No-one was injured, though the lion reportedly stalked the zookeeper, forcing him to seek safety in a moat.
