An officer guards the gate Wednesday near at the entrance of Cat Haven, the exotic animal park in central California where a 26-year old female volunteer intern was killed by a lion in Dunlap, Calif.
Photo by
Associated Press /Chattanooga Times Free Press.
DUNLAP, Calif. — Authorities say the intern fatally attacked by a lion at a California exotic animal park was talking with a co-worker on the phone in the moments before she was killed.
Fresno County coroner David Hadden said the co-worker became concerned when the conversation ended abruptly and 24-year-old Dianna Hanson failed to call back.
Hadden says Hanson was cleaning an enclosure when investigators believe the lion may have used its paw to lift a partially opened door of a smaller cage, but the investigation continues.
The 550-pound lion broke Hanson’s neck with an apparent swipe of the paw.
