Woman on work experience at a Big Cat Sanctuary killed by Lion

A lion has killed a volunteer at a big cat sanctuary in California after the worker climbed into the animal's cage.
Dianna Hanson, 26, was attacked inside an enclosure at Cat Haven in Dunlap by an African lion which had been raised at the park since it was a cub.
Another park worker tried unsuccessfully to lure the lion - a four-year-old male named Cous Cous - into a separate pen.

The animal was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy, California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman Lt Tony Spada said.

Paul Hanson, a Seattle-area attorney, identified the victim as his daughter.

"She was very excited," he said. "It was just a dream job for her."

He added that his daughter had been fascinated by big cats from an earlier age.

"She was absolutely fearless," he said.

Dale Anderson, who has run the zoo since 1993, cried as he read a short statement about the intern's death, extending his thoughts and prayers to the victim's family and friends.

Investigators are now trying to find out why the woman was inside the enclosure and what might have provoked the attack.

Actress Tippi Hedren, who founded the Shambala Preserve in California for seized or abandoned exotic pets, expressed dismay over the killing of the lion.

"It wasn't the lion's fault. It's the human's fault always," she said.

Nicole Paquette, vice president of the Humane Society of the United States, an animal welfare charity, said: "She should have never been in the enclosure with him. These are big cats that are extremely dangerous."

Cat Haven, about 45 miles east of Fresno in the Sierra Nevada foothills, is a private sanctuary with two lions.

The park - which is home to about two dozen animals and has previously housed tigers, leopards and jaguars - has a good safety record, Lt Spada said.

An inspection by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in January 2011 found the sanctuary was in "good condition".

Last year, another sanctuary, Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida, said that at least 21 people, including five children, have been killed and 246 mauled by exotic cats in the US since 1990.

Over that period, 254 cats escaped and 143 were killed.