A 22-year-old intern at a North Carolina zoo was killed Sunday after a lion escaped the Conservators Center in Burlington — a 45-acre wildlife park in rural Caswell County. The intern, identified as Alexandra Black, was killed during a routine cleaning of an animal enclosure at about 11:30 a.m. Black was a native of New Palestine, Indiana, and a recent graduate of Indiana State University.
Caswell County sheriff’s deputies tried to tranquilize the lion but failed, so the animal was killed to allow emergency personnel to retrieve Black’s body, Sheriff Tony Darden Jr. said in a statement. She had been working at the center for about two weeks, Darden said.
“While a husbandry team led by a professionally trained animal keeper was carrying out a routine enclosure cleaning, one of the lions somehow left a locked space and entered the space the humans were in and quickly killed one person,” the zoo said in a statement. “The Conservators Center is devastated by the loss of a human life today.”
The center went on to say that it is investigating how the lion escaped its enclosure and that the zoo will be closed until further notice. The Conservators Center houses more than 80 animals from 20 species, including about 20 big cats. In 2004, the zoo helped the U.S. Department of Agriculture by accepting 14 lions and tigers that were part of a confiscation of animals living in unacceptable conditions.
By: Maytinee Kramer
