NC Zoo: Intern is Killed when Lion Escapes a Locked area

A 22-year-old intern at a North Carolina zoo was killed Sunday after a lion escaped a locked space.

The Conservators Center in Burlington — between Greensboro and Durham — announced that the intern was killed during a routine cleaning of an animal enclosure at about 11:30 a.m. ET.

The victim was identified by the Caswell County Sheriff’s Office as Alexandra Black, 22, a native of New Palestine, Indiana, and a recent graduate of Indiana University. Officials originally said Black had graduated from Indiana State University.

“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 lion was shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies. The center said it is investigating how the lion escaped its enclosure and that the zoo will be closed until further notice. Sheriff’s deputies shot and killed the lion so that they could retrieve Black after several attempts to tranquilize the animal were not successful.

Black had been employed at the Conservators Center for approximately two weeks, authorities said.

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In 2004, the zoo assisted the U.S. Department of Agriculture by accepting 14 lions and tigers that were part of a larger confiscation of animals living in unacceptable conditions, the center’s website states. It has more than 16,000 visitors each year.

The Conservators Center is closed until further notice. The center, a nonprofit which houses more than 80 animals, was founded in 1999 and in 2007 was opened to visitors. It is not accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums.

More then 16,000 people visit the zoo each year, according to their website. The center employs about 12 people full-time “and is a hub of volunteer activity,” the site says.

The North Carolina chapter of the Humane Society of the United States said the tragedy highlights the need for laws in the state regarding private ownership of wild animals and called for a ban.

PETA also urged “North Carolina lawmakers to safeguard human lives by making it illegal for any non-accredited facility to possess wild and exotic animals and subject them to the misery of being denied everything that’s natural and important to them.”

“Humans and captive animals will keep losing their lives as long as unaccredited roadside zoos like the so-called ‘Conservators Center’ keep imprisoning dangerous animals for entertainment,” PETA said in a statement.